Bicoastal/international Propaganda Films has signed an exclusive deal to represent European director Sebastien Grousset for spots, music video, television and feature films; Grousset is now helming his first Propaganda job: a MasterCard spot out of McCann-Erickson, New York….Jeff Armstrong, the former executive producer of bicoastal/international Satellite, has launched Drive Media, a Venice, Calif.-based production house that has several elements in place, including: its first director, Frederic Forestier; national representation via Creative Management Partners; and financial backing from commercial industry vets, executive producer Chris Bowell and director Rob Turner. Bowell and Turner have invested as individuals in Armstrongs venture; they are best known as partners in Circle Productions, Vancouver, B.C., and TorontoA.Moxie turns sexy: Director Pam Thomas, who does spots via bicoastal Moxie Pictures, has just wrapped two episodes of HBOs Sex and the City; Moxie principal Dan Levinson directed promos for the pair of showsA. Motion capture/animation company Giant Studios has opened a West Coast branch. The Santa Monica shop will be headed up by chief technology officer William O. SchultzA.Neal Karsh has been named technology deployment manager, audio and DTV, for Leitch. He is based at the Chesapeake, Va., office of the Toronto-headquartered hardware manufacturer. Karsh is well known to the spot community, having earlier served as VP of audio engineering for New York Media GroupA.
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