Director William Armstrong has joined Sibling Rivalry for commercial representation in the U.S. His work for brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Samsung, Adidas and Volkswagen has earned him accolades and shortlists at competitions and festivals, including Cannes Lions, Kinsale Sharks, One Screen, The Webbys, Ciclope, ICAD and Vimeo Staff Picks. Armstrong’s films are marked by humanity, crossing cultures and continents, as reflected in a recent music video for Kormac’s “New Day.”
Prior to coming aboard the Sibling Rivalry roster, Armstrong had been repped for ad fare by Knucklehead in the U.S.
Born in Gaborone, Botswana, Armstrong grew up surrounded by elephants, lions, and crocodiles, which sparked an imagination that is felt at the core of his work today. After studying history and philosophy in Cape Town, South Africa, he graduated from Vancouver Film School in Canada. His directorial debut, a test film he wrote and developed while working as a producer in Dublin, Ireland, won a Young Director Award at the Cannes Lions.
“We immediately fell in love with William’s cinematic language,” said Sibling Rivalry executive producer Shelby Ross. “He’s a young gun with a great reel and a ton of car experience. We see in him the opportunity to expand our automotive roster, and look forward to sharing his work with the U.S. market.”
Armstrong related, “It’s rare to find a production company with both a big reputation and small roster. I think great things happen when there’s a tight-knit family feel in a company, and when I met Shelby and the team at Sibling their energy and drive for the business was totally infectious.”
Armstrong has just completed a music video for an electronic artist in Barcelona, shot by Steve Annis, which is due out this month, and a commercial shot across Ireland for the Irish Tourism Board. Internationally Armstrong is repped in the ad arena by Nicholas Berglund in France, Markenfilm in Germany, Dreamboat in Canada, and Antidote in Ireland.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More