Film and commercial production company Cutter Productions, a New York-based shop under the aegis of EP Hillary Cutter, has signed director Nika Offenbac.
Offenbac brings more than a decade of experience in postproduction, animation and visual effects, serving in varied capacities. As a creative director Offenbac has led tour visuals for Skrillex, Tiesto and Theivery Corporation. Her animated films have screened at the Lincoln Center, the Kunsthaus Graz (Austria), and LACMA. She has executive produced rebrands, show packages, promos and campaigns for the likes of truTV, Amazon, Netflix, FX, & HBO. Offenbac’s hybrid talents as a director and producer have also established her as a documentarian working in the feature and television space. As a commercial director she has directed spots and campaigns for Evian, Airbnb, Sears, Ubisoft, Nestle and TBS, among others.
Offenbac was drawn to Cutter Productions not only for its filmmaking artistry but also for its working mission to empower women in all fields of entertainment. EP Cutter has been a fierce advocate for equal, representative and diverse hiring practices in film for over 15 years and runs a women’s mentorship group for up and coming NY directors, editors, writers, and mixers, eponymously named Cutter Connections.
In the big picture, Offenbac cited storytelling as a driving force throughout her career. She identified the stories “we tell others, but also the ones we tell ourselves. Some are entertaining, or clever or beautiful. Others are challenging or just interesting. As a director, my primary responsibility is to that story, both in the telling and the making. Because HOW you create ultimately IS what you create. It’s possible to make a living as an artist but if you’re going to do something, do it big, and do it with compassion and collaborators.”
Cutter shared, “I’ve been admiring Nika from afar for the past 10 years and have always been impressed with her multifaceted ability to do everything from creatively leading animation projects to helming live-action shoots to executive producing long-form content. As more clients look to Cutter to lead projects from development through post, it’s important for us to evolve our creative team and Nika’s expertise in creative direction and long-form content make her an invaluable addition to our roster. It also goes without saying that Nika’s passion for building diverse teams both onset and in postproduction as well as working with our mentorship program to help guide and nurture the next generation of media makers makes her a perfect match for Cutter.”
Prior to joining Cutter Productions, Offenbac was an executive producer/partner/director at And/Or Studios.
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