LOS ANGELES-Giuseppe Rotunno, A.S.C., A.I.C., will receive the International Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers at the 13th Annual A.S.C. Outstanding Achievement Awards, to be held here Feb. 21 at the Century Plaza Hotel.
Over the past 40-plus years, Rotunno has worked with some of the world’s great directors, including Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, John Huston, Mike Nichols and Robert Altman. His career as a DP began in Rome in 1954, when the cinematographer for Visconti’s Senso was killed in a car accident; Rotunno took his place, going on to shoot Visconti’s Rocco and his Brothers and Fellini’s Satyricon and Amarcord, among others.
In 1966, after shooting Huston’s The Bible … In The Beginning, Rotunno was nominated for membership in the A.S.C. by Leon Shamroy, A.S.C., and subsequently became one of the first foreign nationals to join the organization, which was founded in 1919 for the purpose of advancing the art and craft of cinematography.
Rotunno counts among his achievements other firsts: In 1987, he became one of the first DPs to shoot a narrative film in HDTV, Julia and Julia, starring Kathleen Turner, Gabriel Byrne and Sting; and two years later, he shot Leonardo’s Dream, one of the first films in Showscan, a 65mm, 60 fps format.
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