By BY CAROLYN GIARDINA
NEW YORK-Jane Stuart and Louis Siracusano, CEO of Northvale, N.J.-headquartered Video Services Corp. (VSC), have agreed that Stuart will relinquish her duties as president of Cabana, a New York-based, VSC-owned editorial shop. Siracusano said Cabana operations manager David Cooper would temporarily handle many of Stuart’s responsibilities.
Stuart had been president and a partner in Big Picture Editorial, which grew into Cabana. Big Picture and another privately held editorial shop, Even Time, were originally acquired by now-defunct publicly held International Post Ltd. (IPL) and became Big Picture/Even Time. A year later, in January 1997, Big Picture/ Even Time was renamed Cabana and moved into new midtown digs. Later that year, IPL was acquired by VSC, which went public around the same time.
Stuart remained a partner in Big Picture Communications, a New York-based production company that was not a part of the original IPL deal. Stuart told SHOOT she intends to resume her involvement at Big Picture Communications. She is also exploring new business opportunities, possibly as an industry consultant. As Stuart is under contract, her future with VSC was unclear at press time.
Changing Of The Guard
Since its formation, Cabana has seen a changing of the guard. Following the departure of former Even Time owners David and Barbara Dee, last July a group of three editors and a production manager moved on to form editorial shop Just Add Water, New York. Last month, editor Billy Senia departed for a post at Billy Williams Enterprises, New York.
Since becoming Cabana, the company has also brought in new talent, including staff editors Jonathan Smalheiser and Jay Slot. Editors Michael Schenkein, Greg Letson, Len Smalheiser and David Winter round out the editorial staff.
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