By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

IFC MIDNIGHT TAKES U.S. AND LATIN AMERICAN RIGHTS TO JENNIFER KENT’S FEATURE DEBUT THE BABADOOK

Posted Saturday, January 25th, 2014 - Comments Off on IFC MIDNIGHT TAKES U.S. AND LATIN AMERICAN RIGHTS TO JENNIFER KENT’S FEATURE DEBUT THE BABADOOK
Be Sociable, Share!

Film Features A Breakout Performance From Lead Actress Essie Davis

PARK CITY, UTAH (January 25, 2014) – IFC Midnight announced today from the 2014 Sundance Film Festival that the company is acquiring U.S. and Latin American rights to Jennifer Kent’s psychological horror film THE BABADOOK. The film, with a screenplay by Kent, stars actress Essie Davis in a breakout role as a single mother who must cope with her troubled son and the shadowy monster that has taken over their home.  The film was produced by Kristina Ceyton (Causeway Films) and Kristian Moliere, and executive produced by Jonathan Page, Michael Tear, Jan Chapman, and Jeff Harrison.  The film made its World Premiere this week in the Midnight Section at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.  Entertainment One Films International (eOne) handles international rights to the film.

Jennifer Kent ‘s remarkable debut feature tells the story of a single mother named Amelia (Australian actress Essie Davis in a critically hailed breakthrough performance).  She is plagued by the violent death of her husband, and forced to battle with her troubled son’s nighttime fear of a shadowy monster.  At odds with her own child and this terrifying presence in her home, she is forced to confront this dark entity lurking in her house. With echoes of past and contemporary classics like Rosemary’s Baby, The Tenant, The Exorcist, The Omen and Let the Right One In, the film is an exquisitely crafted tale starring Davis and young newcomer Noah Wiseman. The supporting cast includes Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, and Ben Winspear.

Jonathan Sehring, President of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, said: “This is an extraordinary debut feature from a brilliant Australian filmmaker named Jennifer Kent who has crafted the perfect classic horror film.  We were blown away by the two lead performances in the film, and we believe that people will see this film and realize that Jennifer Kent has arrived as one of the great new horror filmmakers.”

 

The film made its mark terrifying audiences and critics alike at the festival. Josh Rothkopf at Time Out NY @joshrothkopf tweeted: “Writing about THE BABADOOK (★★★★★): hugely pleasurable. Thinking about it at 3am in a strange condo: not so much.”  Noel Murray at The Dissolve wrote: “Simply put: This movie is absolutely terrifying, from its guttural croaks (“baaa baaa dook dook dooooook…”) to the creepy design of The Babadook itself,” and via @Noelmu tweeted: “Recommendation/warning: You can’t get rid of THE BABADOOK. #Sundance.” Anthony Breznican at Entertainment Weekly @Breznican tweeted: “Pulling the covers up extra tight tonight, thanks to @TheBabadook #Sundancemidnight movie.” Brian Tallerico at Roger Ebert.com @Brian_Tallerico tweeted: “THE BABADOOK: Nothing is scarier than parenthood. Echoes of The Orphanage & The Shining herald a major new talent. William Goss at Film.com @williambgoss tweeted: “The Babadook: yeah, that might be the creepiest goddamn thing in ages. #Sundance,” and Sam Adams at The Philadelphia Inquirer @SamuelAAdams tweeted: “If you weren’t in Park City’s Egyptian Theatre last night, you missed #Sundance2014’s first flat-out masterpiece.”

 

“Sundance audiences and U.S. critics have thrilled to The Babadook’s chills. It’s fantastic that IFC Midnight has done the same, and that this impressive debut feature will find a home with wider American audiences,” said Screen Australia’s Head of Marketing Kathleen Drumm.  Screen Australia, the chief funding body for the Australian screen production industry, is a major investor in the film and supported its promotional efforts in Sundance.

 

The deal was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, SVP of Acquisitions and Productions at Sundance Selects/IFC Films, with John Sloss for Cinetic Media on behalf of Harold van Lier and Charlotte Mickie for eOne and the filmmakers. This deal follows last week’s announcement that eOne Films International successfully secured a multi-territory sale of the film to Wild Bunch for France, Germany and Switzerland.

 

IFC Midnight is a sister label to IFC Films and Sundance Selects, and is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc.

 

IFC Midnight’s sister label IFC Films acquired two films at this year’s festival – Jim Mickle’s COLD IN JULY starring Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don Johnson and Vinessa Shaw; and John Slattery’s directorial debut GOD’S POCKET starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Christina Hendricks, and John Turturro.  IFC Films also showcased the World Premiere of Michael Winterbottom’s THE TRIP TO ITALY starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon; and held Special Preview screenings of Richard Linklater’s BOYHOOD which stars Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane and Lorelei Linklater, which chronicles one family’s journey over the course of twelve years.

 

 

*                      *                      *                      *

 

About IFC MIDNIGHT

Established in 2010 and based in New York City, IFC Midnight is a leading U.S. distributor of genre entertainment including horror, science-fiction, thrillers, erotic art house, action and more. Some of the company’s successes have included Tom Six’s controversial horror film THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FIRST SEQUENCE); Ben Wheatley’s unconventional hitman thriller KILL LIST; Rodney Ascher’s acclaimed documentary ROOM 237; Franck Khalfoun’s slasher movie MANIAC; Vincenzo Natali’s HAUNTER; Dennis Iliadis’ +1; and Renny Harlin’s DEVIL’S PASS. IFC Midnight is a sister label to Sundance Selects and IFC Films, and is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc.

Be Sociable, Share!

Posted in Movie City News, Press Releases | Comments Off on IFC MIDNIGHT TAKES U.S. AND LATIN AMERICAN RIGHTS TO JENNIFER KENT’S FEATURE DEBUT THE BABADOOK

Comments are closed.

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon