Full-service advertising agency 22squared has hired Roy Torres as creative director. Based out of 22squared’s Atlanta office, Torres will be working across many of the agency’s key accounts.
Torres joins 22squared following a brief stint freelancing where he established his own company, knife & luck. Before branching out on his own, Torres served as an associate creative director at Grey in New York touching clients such as Ketel One Vodka, Longhorn Steakhouse, Hasbro and The Whitney Museum. Prior to his time at Grey, Torres was an art director at Anomaly in New York, where he spearheaded a global brand campaign launch for Converse, and Droga5 in Sydney. His creative career began at Y&R New York working on brands such as Land Rover, MTV, LG and Bacardi.
Torres’ work has been recognized by international and national award festivals such as Cannes, ANDY, London International, Young Guns, Clio, New York Festival, and The One Show. He also helped start the New York branch of Miami Ad School and served as one of their first instructors in 2010.
In addition to Torres’ appointment, and on the heels of 22squared’s recent growth and new business wins, of which include GNC and Mizuno, the agency has made a series of new creative hires. Other new hires to the creative team include: associate creative director/copywriter Kristen Dutton who had been a copywriter at The Martin Agency; executive integrated producer Rob Downs who will lead the SET account and who was previously at BlacQube; associate creative director/copywriter Matt McGuinness who had been at Trumpet; associate creative director/copywriter Jason Miller who had been a sr. copywriter at Van Winkle & Pearce; associate creative director/art director Rory Odani, also formerly at Van Winkle & Pearce where he was sr. art director; associate creative director/art director Nathalia Resende who came over from The Martin Agency; associate creative director/art director Kevin Taylor, formerly an art director at GSD&M; and executive producer/video Ben Tischler who had served in the same capacity at SapientNitro, NY.
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