28/New Orleans: 36th Annual National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) Program Conference & Exhibition at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Details, call (310) 453-4440 or www.natpe.org….Feb. 1: Deadline for entries to the Johns Hopkins Film Festival. Info, entry forms at (410) 516-5048 or www.seether.com/filmfest….Feb. 11/ Chicago: The 28th Annual Mobius Awards at the Chicago Cultural Center. Tickets, info, (630) 834-7773….Feb. 12: Deadline for entries to the AICP Show. Call for entries available at www.aicp.com/show or (212) 475-2600….Feb. 12: Deadline for entry to the 1999 International Monitor Awards. Info, entry forms, call Jen Hartz, (703) 319-0800….Feb. 12: Deadline for entries to the 32nd Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. Info/entry forms, (713) 965-9955 or www.worldfest.org….Feb. 15: Deadline for entries to the Tahoe International Film Festival. Application and info, (530) 583-FEST or www.tahoefilmfestival.org….Feb. 19-28: 16th Miami Film Festival at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts. For tickets, (305) 372-0925 or (305) 358-5885….Feb. 25-27/Orlando, Fla.: 33rd SMPTE Advanced Motion Imaging Conference at the Omni Rosen Hotel. Info, www.smpte.org….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….April 17-22/Las Vegas: NAB 99. For info, call (202) 429-5419….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….June 10-15/Montreux, Switzerland: Montreux Symposium 99 looking at the challenges arising from digital and HD technology. For info, call 41 (21) 963-3220 or e-mail message@symposia.ch….
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