Alkemy X has added commercial and film director Dean Blumberg to its roster for U.S. commercial representation. Living in Johannesburg, South Africa, but shooting globally, Blumberg has a body of work which showcases his affinity for eliciting strong performances from actors on spots for such top brands as KFC, Virgin and Toyota, as well as campaigns with celebrity talent including Sir Ben Kingsley and William Shatner. Blumberg started his career directing short films which garnered him honors at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. He then entered the competitive commercial directing world. Before long he won his first Ad of the Year for Creative Circle with his Ford “Together” spot and that his 1st for Women “So Backwards” piece made the Gunn Report’s 100 Most Awarded Commercials List—something he repeated in 2015 with his Student Flights’ “Grandpa.” He’s gone on to win various Cannes Lions, Clios, Midas, London International, and One Show awards. Blumberg has won Creative Circle’s Ad of the Year twice, as well as 2nd and 3rd places in alternating years. Outside of advertising, Blumberg has continued to work on his feature film and television endeavors throughout the entirety of his career. He has penned three feature film scripts, two of which he sold early on, and is regularly invited to lecture and give workshops on narrative direction. He is currently in development on his first feature film for Netflix, Splitsville, which is slated to begin production in 2023….
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