The SIM Group has hired Suzanne Lezotte as director of marketing. In this position, Lezotte will take the lead in creating a streamlined marketing solution for the company’s divisions, which include SIM Digital, PS Production Services, Bling Digital and Chainsaw.
Rob Sim, president and CEO of The SIM Group, said of Lezotte, “Her impressive background and extensive network within the cinematography and production community will help us promote our services on a broader scale.”
The SIM Group provides an array of services: cameras and production equipment rentals through SIM Digital, grip and lighting (in Canada) through PS Production Services, and postproduction services through Bling Digital and Chainsaw.
“With the merger of Chainsaw to our group of families, we are committed to providing a workflow from production through postproduction,” said James Martin, chief strategy officer. “Suzanne’s ability to promote and communicate our services through cohesive marketing strategies will help us reach a new level of company recognition.”
Prior to joining The SIM Group, Lezotte was director of marketing for Bexel, a worldwide provider of broadcast solutions, and a division of the Vitec Group. She led the creation and deployment of cohesive marketing strategies and campaigns, including social media. She worked closely with other divisions of the Vitec Group, including Anton Bauer, Litepanels, O’Connor and Autoscript.
Before Bexel, Lezotte served as worldwide marketing communications director for Panavision, where she was responsible for all communications both internally and externally, including maintaining relationships with magazines and online publications. In addition, she coordinated well-received events for production facilities including Panavision Atlanta, Panavision Hollywood and Panavision Woodland Hills. Her role also included promoting greater visibility for Panavision with the community via web stories and social media. Before her work at Panavision, Lezotte served as communications manager for ARRI as well as editorial director at Creative Planet and editor of ICG Magazine.
After her eldest son was born with Down syndrome, Lezotte served as the Southern California committee chair for the Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation. In her tenure with the organization, she has been successful in creating greater awareness within various organizations and has helped to raise more than $100,000 in research funds. She was also the spokesperson for a nationwide PSA produced by Women in Film, which garnered an Aurora and a Telly award.
Lezotte is a graduate of Western Michigan University. She, her husband and their three children reside in Southern California.
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