Astrow Ziegler, New York has undergone some restructuring. Dana Astrow adds Oil Factory Films, Hollywood, to her roster of companies, which also includes bicoastal Epoch Films, and New York-based Nocturnal Commercials. She exclusively handles East Coast representation for those companies. Peter Ziegler now exclusively represents Stiefel + Company, Santa Monica, bicoastal The End, Unscented, Los Angeles, and gigantic, Beverly Hills, Calif., on the East Coast. Both reps continue to handle East Coast sales for Spot Welders, Venice, Calif…Kelly Flint is joining the New York office of independent rep firm Help! and bringing client nonAficAtion, Santa Monica, with her. Help! will handle nonAficAtion on the East Coast. Meanwhile, Flint will continue to represent bicoastal X-1 Films under her longstanding New York banner, Flint & Sons. Help-founded by Mary Knox and Alyson Daniels-also maintains a Minneapolis officeA..Chicago-based rep firm Gay Guthrey and Associates has been named to handle Midwest and Southwest sales for Dallas-based directorz….. Morningside Movies, New York, has signed director Gianfrano Quattrini for U.S. spot representationA.Steven Jacob has launched Gravity Talent Agency, West Hollywood, for commercials, features and TV. Jacob was formerly with the New York branch of bicoastal The Gersh Agency. Gravity opens with a DP roster comprised of Joe Arcidiacono, Adam Beckman, Matthew Clark, Joe DeSalvo, Larry Fong, Karl Hahn, Tom Hurwitz, Ellen Kuras A.S.C., Charles Libin, Curtis Lee Mitchell, David Morabito, Glen Mordeci, George Motz, Spencer Newman, Carl Norr, David Norton, Bob Richman, Richard Rutkowski, and Romeo Tirone; and production designers Jenny Burton, Marco DiMaccio, Jimbo Marshall and Pamela ShamshiriA. Charlex, New York, has named Donna Goodman director of salesA.
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