Los Angeles based Yvette Lubinsky is handling West Coast representation for Celsius Films, New York….Cielo Films, Santa Monica, has secured San Francisco-based Mary Saxon and Los Angeles-based Rachel Finn of newly formed independent rep firm FinnSaxon to cover the West Coast….Andrea Ruotsi has joined Claire & Company, Manhattan Beach, Calif., as associate rep. The firm has also added bicoastal Face The Music to its roster for West Coast and Texas representation….Bicoastal Razorfish has named Kristine Barakat as director of new business development in New York, and Samuel T. Schoemann as senior account executive in Los Angeles. Barakat was formerly director of international marketing with Frank N. Magid Associates, London, while Schoemann was executive director of creative services at Columbia TriStar International Television, Los Angeles….DP Jules LaBarthe is available for commercials via Montana Artists, Santa Monica, after completing the MTV pilot, This is How the World Ends, directed by Gregg Araki….
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