Cinematographers Jay Feather and Joe Zizzo have joined Innovative Artists for representation in commercials and features. Feather’s credits include Veep on HBO, The Americans on FX, and Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO. His commercial work highlights brands like GoGurt, Fruit By the Foot, Busch Beer, Jack Links, and AT&T. Meanwhile Zizzo’s credits include spots for Turkish Airlines, Nissan, GE and the Tribeca Film Festival. Zizzo works with such production houses as Backyard, O Positive, Cap Gun Collective, Anonymous Content, Bully Pictures, RadicalMedia, Tool, and Bob Industries. Additionally, DP Jordan McMonagle has secured Innovative Artists to handle representation in commercials. He works with brands such as Turner Sports, Ford, Adidas, Georgia Lottery and Delta, along with promos. McMonagle also works with production companies like Pogo Pictures, Shadowlight Pictures, and Zuma Films….
Dattner Dispoto and Associates (DDA) has signed cinematographer Kai Saul for representation. DDA has also booked cinematographers Bojan Bazelli, ASC, and Jeff Cronenweth, ASC, respectively, on the feature films Gambit and A Million Little Pieces. On the TV front, DDA has booked DP Danny Ruhlmann, ASC on the series Messiah, and production designer Todd Jeffery on the series Miracle Workers….
ELEMENTS, developer of advanced solutions for collaboration in shared media workflows, has added Eric Thorne to its North American team as its VP sales, Americas. Thorne previously served as regional VP of sales at SAM (Snell Advanced Media) where he managed the growth of the product portfolio throughout the western US and key accounts in L.A. Thorne also held sales management positions at Quantel throughout the U.S–prior to its acquisition by SAM–leading to the VP level, including district sales manager, regional sales manager and director of sales….
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