By MILLIE TAKAKI
Last week (5/26), SHOOT reported on the Grand Clio winner and Gold Clio recipients in the television portion of the competition, as well as the two spot inductees into the Clio Hall of Fame. Heres a rundown of several of the Silver Clio TV winners:
NEW YORKaDuring a gala TV Clio Awards ceremony in New York on May 25, there were some familiar spots that scored Silver. Taking a Silver Clio in the national campaign category was Amazon.com for the spots "Tons of Toys," "Spent Two Minutes" and "Just A Few Days to Go" directed by Adam Cameron and Simon Cole, a.k.a. Joe Public, of bicoastal Headquarters, for FCB, San Francisco. The Amazon.com work has been much lauded in recent months. For example, "Spent Two Minutes," a SHOOT "Top Spot" (12/10/99) was one of the entries that helped Joe Public earn a Directors Guild of America nomination for best commercial director of 99 (SHOOT, 2/11).
Another popular, high-profile spot packageaBudweisers "Whassup/True," "Whassup/Pizza Guy" and "Whassup/Call Waiting"aalso garnered a Silver Clio in the national campaign category. The spots were directed by Charles Stone III of C&C Films/Storm Films, New York, for DDB Chicago. As earlier reported, "Whassup/True" took the best of television Grand Clio as well as a Gold Clio in the alcoholic beverages category.
Spike Jonze of bicoastal/international Satellite earned a Silver in the direction category for Nikes "The Morning After" via Wieden +Kennedy (W+K), Portland, Ore. This spot too earned much acclaim since its November 99 debut, including distinction as a SHOOT "Top Spot" (11/26/99).
Another piece of W+K creative also came up Silver. Stamps.com’s "Launch" directed by Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA, garnered Silver in the retail services category.
Several foreign spots also gained Silver recognition. Rounding out the national campaign Silver Clio winners was Extreme Soft Milk Chocolate’s "Folk Dance," "Tractor" and "Billiards" directed by Stefan Treschow of Moland Film, Oslo, for Leo Burnett Co., Oslo.
Commercials from the U.K., France, Canada and Germany also copped Silver Clios. The following is a complete list of Gold and Silver Clio winners in the TV categories, and the two Hall of Fame spot inductees:
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