Bicoastal M-80 Films is now a one-director shop—the resident helmer being Tenney Fairchild, who will continue to team with M-80 executive producer Gregg Stern. M-80 remains part of the Stoney Road family of companies. Stern explained that he and Fairchild wanted to run as a leaner operation. Meanwhile, several other directors who were at M-80 will be part of an as yet unnamed house under the aegis of executive producer Matthew McManus; the new venture will also be a Stoney Road shop…. Bicoastal Coppos Films has signed director Jeffrey Karoff for exclusive spot representation….Bicoastal Zooma Zooma has signed director Sasha Levinson for commercials….Russell Ziecker has been named CEO of Syn America, the newly launched U.S. arm of Tokyo-headquartered Syn Corp. Syn’s U.S. operation will include the formation of a record label and a commercial music production division by the end of 2001….A correction on a recent Street Talk item (8/14, p. 30): Doug Wedeck is maintaining Single Bid, New York, after the departure of Heidi Gottlieb (see story p. 6). Wedeck, who currently holds the title of co-founder at Single Bid, and Gottlieb had been serving as partners/co-presidents at the sales and marketing firm. Single Bid’s roster includes Storyville Pictures, Los Angeles and Atlanta; Spoke Films, Los Angeles and Chicago; Element Music & Sound, Santa Monica; and newly signed Engine Media, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.….
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