Josh DiMarcantonio and Kristina Jenkins have joined Zambezi as executive creative director and chief strategy officer, respectively.
Most recently creative director at 180LA, DiMarcantonio has held CD roles at Deutsch, CAA and W+K. He has created branded entertainment, intellectual property and marketing platforms for global clients such as Adidas, Nike, Brand Jordan, ESPN, Taco Bell, Planters as well as non-profit organizations like the HIV/AIDS relief foundation, and Keep A Child Alive. His work has garnered Cannes Lions (seven Lions for Taco Bell alone in 2014), One Show Pencils, Addys, D&AD, CA, and Clio honors.
Jenkins, who takes on the newly created role of chief strategy officer at Zambezi, spent eight years at mcgarrybowen, most recently serving as culture intelligence officer. Cultural planning is a strategic capability dedicated to helping clients across the global agency network dig into unexpected places in culture while bringing forth provocative thinking.
During her time with mcgarrybowen, Jenkins led the development of cultural truths, consumer insights and communication strategies for Verizon Innovations, Disney, 7UP, Canada Dry, Sunkist, Kraft, Mondeléz and Reebok. She was instrumental in the Honda Europe CR-V, United, Sears and Reebok new business wins. She headed up all trend intelligence for the agency, including Millennial themed-content. She also designed proprietary strategic tools to help clients problem solve.
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