Cannes Lions–which first postponed its 2020 Festival from June to October only to later cancel it outright on April 3–is now looking to go digital with the launch of Lions Live, a digital education, inspiration and networking experience that will run throughout June under the theme “Creativity Matters.” Activity will build to a peak during the original dates of the Festival of Creativity, June 22-26.
Lions Live will comprise masterclasses and hangouts with creative industry legends, lectures from experts, talks from speakers confirmed for the Festival, and a selection of the most impactful professional classes and learning modules from the world of creativity, effectiveness and marketing. The platform will also feature Future Gazers–a collection of industry experts who will assess how COVID-19 has transformed the way the industry will need to approach Cannes Lions’ already-announced 2020 themes. It will also showcase the best of the hundreds of responses to the current crisis from the global creative community currently being shared on the new Creativity Moves us Forward platform. Access to Lions Live: Creativity Matters will be free of charge to all.
The Work–the subscription-only archive of more than 200,000 Lions campaigns and 1,600 Festival talks–will be made freely accessible to all throughout the original Festival week, providing access to case studies and inspiration to help fuel ideas and creativity. Additionally, during June anyone will be able to access a specially curated course of lessons taken from the Cannes Lions masterclass series on 42courses.com. This will include lessons from the likes of Rei Inamoto, Keith Reinhard and Debbi Vandeven, on topics such as Creative Effectiveness, Strategy, Storytelling, Behavioral Science and Digital Marketing. Meanwhile, Cannes Lions’ sister companies MediaLink and WARC will also be bringing their Cannes activities to life, with a virtual MediaLink networking beach, and lessons on the very best effectiveness strategies from around the world presented by WARC.
Simon Cook, managing director of Cannes Lions, said, “In order to drive progress through creativity, and support our community at this difficult time, we want to provide the global industry with the opportunity to learn and network throughout June and beyond. For the first time in nearly 70 years, we are unable to bring the industry together in one physical place in June. Lions Live: Creativity Matters will provide a virtual platform for the industry to collaborate, learn and problem-solve, because now more than ever, creativity really does matter.”
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