28/Miami: 16th Miami Film Festival at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts. For tickets, (305) 372-0925/358-5885….Feb. 27-28/Minneapolis: AICP Commercial Production Training Seminar. Info, call Jennifer Jacovsky, (212) 475-2600….March 1: Deadline for entries to the 32nd Annual U.S. International Film and Video Festival. Entry kits and info, (630) 834-7773 or www.filmfestawards.com….March 4-5/ Beverly Hills, Calif.: Broadcast Producers Conference. For tickets, (415) 434-8848A.March 4-6/New York: Aaron Davis Halls Harlem Film Festival presents Creatively Speaking: Visions of New Filmmakers. Contact Pauline Barfield, (212) 736-0404 or Angela Perry, (212) 650-5993A. March 5: Deadline for entries to the 20th Annual Telly Awards. Info, entry forms, call (513) 421-1938….March 9/New York: Freelance Producers Network meeting at Hot Wax Recording. Contact Diane Huber, (212) 604-9700AMarch 31: Deadline for entries to the International CINDY Competition. Info, entry forms, contact Sheemon Wolfe, (619) 461-1600, or www.cindys. com…. April 1: Deadline for entries to the 4th Annual West Palm Beach Independent Film Festival. Info, call (516) 802-3029 or www.wpbiff.org….April 17-22/Las Vegas: NAB A99: The Convergence Marketplace. Info, (202) 429-5419 or www.nab. org/conventions/nab99/….April 25-27/Carlsbad, Calif.: The First Annual Entertech Conference on new technologies and issues shaping entertainment production, postproduction, marketing and distribution. For details, (877) 223-9753….May 5: London: The 37th Annual British Design & Art Direction Awards. Info, 44 (171) 840-1111 or www.dandad. org…June 10-15/Montreux, Switzerland: Montreux Symposium 99. For info, call 41 (21) 963-3220 or e-mail message@symposia. ch….July 13-19/Sydney, Australia: SMPTE 99 Conference at the Darling Harbour Exhibition and Convention Center. Info, 61 (2) 99.77.08.88 or www.exevents.com.au….
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