L.A.-based production company London Alley, founded by Luga Podesta, has brought Jordana Freydberg aboard as executive producer. She will help London Alley further grow its commercial and branded business. Previously EP and director of sales for Greenpoint Pictures, Freydberg brings deep brand and agency experience and relationships to London Alley. While in NYC, she helped launch Greenpoint’s national presence in the advertising and marketing industries beginning in 2010, then relocated to L.A. in 2017 to establish the company’s West Coast office.
Editors Jay Nelson, Frank Effron, Gary Knight, Pete Koob and Robert Ryang have been named partners at Cut+Run. Nelson’s work has been seen during every Super Bowl in the last 10 years, including Grey Poupon’s Emmy-nominated “The Chase.” Nelson edited the 2015 Sundance opening film The Bronze, co-wrote and co-edited the acclaimed feature documentary Wild In The Streets and has contributed to such films as World War Z and Pirates of Somalia. Effron has assorted notable spots to his credit. He, for example, cut ads for GEICO one year that earned Gold, Silver and Bronze Lions at Cannes. Knight’s notable projects include MasterCard’s “Can’t Judge a Book,” Gillette’s Olympic spot “Perfect Isn’t Pretty” and the Adidas classic “House Party.” Koob is the award-winning editor behind Adobe’s “Click Baby Click” and Zoosk’s romantic “First Comes Like.” And Ryang’s collaboration with director Floyd Russ, Ad Council’s “Fans of Love,” has earned a commercial Emmy nod. Most recently, their work on the short film Zion premiered at Sundance where it was acquired by Netflix and was shortlisted for a 2019 Academy Award. Ryang has made a name for himself as a notable comedy editor, working with Randy Krallman on multiple GEICO campaigns and Eric Wareheim of comedic duo Tim and Eric on several IHOP spots for Droga5…
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