Mill+ has added creative director Ergin Kuke to its Chicago studio.
Kuke is a multidisciplinary, hands-on creative director. He’s a live action director, a VFX supervisor and, has created media for advertising, motion pictures and, for experiential and interactive installations.
Kuke hails from Tirana, Albania where he was a translator for U.S. journalists covering the War in Kosovo before starting his career in advertising. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s, studying at Gnomon, then working for Sony, Rhythm & Hues and Mind Over Eye.
Kuke has worked on blockbuster films including Polar Express and Superman Returns and crafted onstage visuals for bands such as Korn, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bon Jovi, among others. He’s also extensively collaborated with automotive brands including Dodge, Jaguar and Infiniti.
Brian Smego, executive producer of Mill+ at The Mill in Chicago, said, “Having someone of Ergin’s breadth of knowledge and versatility based in our Chicago studio bolsters our growing team of extremely talented Mill+ creatives. His automotive and experiential work in particular are areas of focus that we look forward to bringing to our market. He’s a tremendous addition to the city and I think his joining is indicative of the quality of work that’s happening in the Midwest, making it possible to draw talent of his caliber from the coasts.”
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 โ and those many "Babadook" memes โ 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 โ "Bah-Bah-Doooook" โ 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