Washington Square Films has signed director Anson Fogel for U.S. commercial representation. His credits include projects for such brands as Apple, Volkswagen, Burger King, GE, Microsoft, The North Face, Red Bull, National Geographic, Jeep and Marriott. With a diverse skillset as a director, writer, producer and DP, Fogel brings a holistic approach to work spanning commercials, experimental shorts, feature films and photography.
Prior to joining Washington Square Films, Fogel was with Camp4Collective. There as part of a three-person collective, he was a director on Apple iPhone’s “Don’t Mess With Mother,” which is currently nominated for the primetime commercial Emmy Award. Agency on the iPhone spot was TBWAMedia Arts Lab.
Fogel’s lifelong passion for film was ignited by a childhood spent exploring rural mountains while immersing himself in books, movies and music. He built his career on the crew side, beginning his work on set as an AC, then spending seven years as a DP before directing for brands, documentary and television work. He has won over 20 major film festival awards, including the Grand Prize and three other awards at Banff 2011, a Grand Prize at New Zealand, The Fowler Award at Telluride, The Camera prizes at Trento and Gratz, and had two narrative short film premieres at major film festivals. He is currently based in Boulder, Utah.
Jonathan Schwartz, Washington Square Films’ director of sales and marketing, said, “Anson’s work is incredibly cinematic and incorporates wonderful storytelling and impeccable attention to detail.”
Fogel related, ““The team at Washington Square Films truly cares about the work and is very creative and forward-thinking in their business model and approach to the industry. Their diverse involvement across cinema and advertising is vital for where the industry is going.”
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