Supply&Demand has signed director Anton Visser for commercial representation throughout North America. The news comes on the heels of his “Real Cost” anti-smoking campaign for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration out of FCB New York. The campaign, produced by Supply&Demand, includes the humorous “Skinny Jeans” PSA recently featured in SHOOT’s ScreenWork section.
Visser, who continues to be repped by Velocity Films in South Africa, is recognized for his comedy chops. His body of work spans such clients as Toyota, Virgin, Energizer, Stimorol and Walburtons, as well as awards recognition at Cannes, Clio and the D&ADs.
Visser initially made an industry splash as an agency copywriter/creative director at The Jupiter Room in Cape Town, South Africa, a hot shop for creatively groundbreaking work. “My first year as a copywriter coincided with the ascent of Cliff Freeman & Partners,” he recalled. “That ballsy, clean storytelling style made a big impression on me.”
He then moved behind the camera in 2004 to embrace the role of director, and attributes his eclectic sense of humor to being raised on foreign TV while growing up in South Africa, watching the likes of Monty Python and American television dubbed into Africaans to create unintentionally hilarious comedy on screen. Visser also explains how experience as an agency guy, “enables me to look for ways to help present an idea without losing sight of where it needs to go.”
Meanwhile, comedic work of note on Visser’s reel includes “New Guy” for Stimorol through Ogilvy, Cape Town, the wry tale of a man wearing wind blown hair in an office after chewing the brand’s Air Rush gum.
In “Golden Plunger” for Yellow Pages through Integrated Marketing Agency 360eight, Cape Town, Visser tells the amusing story of a successful French plumber, an infant terrible who is the most sought after plumber in all of France serving the likes of celebrities such as Chanel icon Karl Lagerfeld.
Jeff Scruton, EP/managing director of Supply&Demand, said of Visser, “He brings an offbeat sense of humor that is grounded in reality. I love his casting and the performances that he captures from his actors. There are lots of subtle beats that make his spots very memorable. Anton definitely ups the ante for comedy at S&D.”
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