Currently in running for Outstanding Directing For A Variety Series for "Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live In Concert"
Commercial production company Tröll Pictures has added director Natalie Johns to its roster. She is currently nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special for Annie Lennox: Nostalgia Live in Concert, a PBS Great Performances presentation. Additionally, Johns’ documentary I Am Thalente tied for the Audience Award (with Lilibet Foster’s Be Here Now) honoring Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival.
“For my first formal relationship with a commercial production company, I was drawn to the fact that Tröll is very specialized with a very small roster–they treat their directors like partners,” said Johns who was also drawn to the prospects of working with company EP Peter Steinzeig.
Johns was born in Zimbabwe, grew up in South Africa, launched her career in the UK, and is currently based in Los Angeles. Throughout her career she has directed and produced many live concert events, television and web specials, working with artists including Bono, Madonna, Rod Stewart, Pussy Riot, Sam Smith, The Flaming Lips, The White Stripes, Peter Gabriel, Lauryn Hill, Adele, Imagine Dragons, A$AP Rocky, and Childish Gambino. She has worked with Amnesty International on several projects including its “Bring Human Rights Home” and “Electric Burma” concerts, and with Coca Cola’s Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN) on a branded video starring Chris Taylor, Solange Knowles, and Twin Shadow that reached half a million viewers in under 24 hours. She has also collaborated with brands including Spotify, Bacardi, Nike, and Rock The Vote on commercial campaigns.
In addition to commercial projects, Johns is currently in development on a documentary with John Legend’s #FREEAMERICA initiative.
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