Christjan Jordan, who has cut award-winning work for Amazon (Lucky Generals), GEICO (Martin Agency) and Madden NFL (Heat), among others, has joined bicoastal Union Editorial as partner/editor. Last week, Amazon’s “Alexa Loses Her Voice” was nominated for a primetime commercial Emmy, adding to a list of acclaimed career credits for the editor (often known simply as Christjan) spanning Cannes Lions, AICE, AICP, Clio, D&AD, One Show, and Sports Emmy awards.
Christjan’s latest work, GEICO’s “Longest Goal Celebration Ever,” in which a soccer player celebrates his winning goal by sliding endlessly around the field on his knees, enjoyed extensive play during this year’s World Cup coverage. The spot was helmed by frequent collaborator Wayne McClammy, for whom Christjan cut the Clio-winning #notspecialneeds spot for World Down Syndrome Day out of Publicis NY.
“Alexa Loses Her Voice” for Amazon–featuring cameos from Cardi B, Gordon Ramsay, Rebel Wilson and Anthony Hopkins–was the most talked-about campaign in the week leading up to the 2018 Super Bowl, earning over 1.5 billion media impressions, and then topping USA Today’s Admeter. The spot was viewed more than 43M times.
“I love the craft, creativity and challenge of editing,” Christjan explained. “I like starting from the initial idea and working with every moment that’s been filmed, coming up with the best piece possible.” In addition to #notspecialneeds, powerful spots edited by Christjan include IN-Q’s gun violence PSA, directed by Unjoo Moon.
Union president/managing partner Michael Raimondi said of Christjan, “His dedication to his craft and desire to do great work drew us to him immediately. We knew from the minute we met Christjan that we wanted him as our partner. He shares our vision of the future and we are thrilled to start the next chapter at Union with him as a collaborator.”
After receiving his Bachelors in Communications from Southern Oregon University, Christjan served tenures as an editor at Arcade Editorial, and Cosmo Street Editorial and Rock Paper Scissors, turning out a stream of high-profile work for brands such as LG (directed by Traktor), Hotwire (David Shane), and Apple (Terri Timely). Prior to joining Union, Christjan was with Rock Paper Scissors.
Of the Union partnership, Christjan said, “This is a great place with talented people who share my passion for the craft.”
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