The directorial duo Minivegas has signed with Nexus Productions for U.S. representation
The directorial duo Minivegas has signed with Nexus Productions for U.S. representation through its stateside rep Patricia Claire. The move gives Minivegas symmetry on both sides of the Atlantic as Nexus continues to handle the directing team–comprised of Luc Schurgers and Dan Lewis–in the U.K. Minivegas' first U.S. project for Nexus is a two-spot campaign for Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy 2 game out of Leo Burnett, Chicago….Paul Hurtubise has joined Beacon Street Studios in Venice, Calif., as mixer. Hurtubise started his career at Brian Boyd Productions, then Stompbox….Bay Area studio veterans Justin Lieberman, Cindy McSherry and Willie Samuels have launched Studio Trilogy in San Francisco. Located in the hip SOMA district of S.F., the studio was formerly the home base for Talking House Productions and its in-house label Talking House Records from 2006 until its closure in early 2010. Soon after Lieberman, McSherry and Samuels took over management of the facility. Lieberman, McSherry and Samuels each have decades of studio experience, having held past engineering and management positions at Bay Area studios Different Fur, SF Soundworks, Crescendo! Studios, Russian Hill Recording, Nu-tone, and Studio 880….
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