Jennifer Kent facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Jennifer Kent
Kent at Festival Paris Cinéma in July 2014
Born	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Alma mater	National Institute of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Filmmaker actress
Years active	1992–present

Jennifer Kent is an Australian director, writer, and former actress. She is famous for writing and directing the scary movie The Babadook (2014). Her second film, The Nightingale (2018), was shown at the 75th Venice International Film Festival. It was even nominated for a big award called the Golden Lion.

Early Life and Learning
Career Journey
Filmmaking Style
Filmography
- Film
- Television
Awards and Recognition
See also

Early Life and Learning

Jennifer Kent was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She shared that she put on her first play when she was just seven years old. She also loved writing stories from a young age. When she was a teenager, she decided to become an actress. She felt that at that time, women weren't often seen as film directors.

In 1991, she finished her studies at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). She studied Performing Arts, focusing on acting.

Career Journey

Acting Roles

Jennifer Kent started her career as an actress. She mostly worked on television shows. She was a main character in Murder Call, playing Constable Dee Suzeraine in all 31 episodes. She also appeared in other Australian TV shows. These included All Saints, Police Rescue, and Above the Law. Kent also had small parts in movies like Babe: Pig in the City. For 13 years, she also taught acting at places like NIDA.

Becoming a Director

After a while, Kent became less interested in acting. She was inspired to become a filmmaker after seeing the movie Dancer in the Dark. She wrote to the director, Lars von Trier, asking to learn from him. She didn't want to go to film school. In 2002, von Trier let her help him on the set of his film Dogville (2003). This movie starred Nicole Kidman. In 2006, Kent directed an episode of Two Twisted. This was an Australian TV series similar to The Twilight Zone.

In 2005, Kent directed her short film called Monster. This film was shown at more than 50 festivals around the world. Some of these included Telluride and Slamdance.

The Babadook (2014)

In 2014, she turned her short film Monster into a full-length movie. This movie was The Babadook. It starred Essie Davis, whom Kent knew from drama school. The film is about a single mother who faces a scary presence in her home. She is also dealing with the sadness of her husband's death. Kent explained that she was interested in people who hide their painful experiences. She wanted to show that facing these experiences can be easier than pushing them down.

The Babadook was first shown at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. It quickly got a deal for distribution in the U.S. Kent wrote five different versions of the script. She got most of her money from the South Australian Film Corporation. She also used a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for building sets. The Babadook was highly praised by critics. It earned $4.9 million worldwide, which was more than double its budget. The script for The Babadook won an award in 2015.

Kent has spoken about the small number of female directors in horror movies. She believes this will change as the world changes. She points out that many women enjoy watching scary films.

In late 2014, Kent met with executives from Warner Bros.. They talked about her possibly directing the Wonder Woman film. However, that job later went to Patty Jenkins.

Because The Babadook was so popular, a special edition of the Mister Babadook pop-up book was published in 2015. This was the same book featured in the film. Kent wrote the book with illustrator Alex Juhasz. The book sold all 6,200 copies.

The Nightingale (2018)

Her second film, The Nightingale, came out in 2018. This movie is about murder and revenge in Tasmania in 1825. On Rotten Tomatoes, a website that collects movie reviews, the film received an 86% approval rating. This means most critics liked it.

Future Plans

When asked about making a sequel to The Babadook, Kent said she would never allow one. She feels it's not that kind of movie.

One of her scripts, called Grace, won an award for unproduced scripts. This was at the Antipodean Film Festival in Saint Tropez. However, Kent said in 2014 that the story of Grace was very similar to what she ended up making with The Babadook. In 2014, she also mentioned that HBO was interested in her for a TV series.

In 2015, it was reported that Kent would write and direct a film based on the book Alice + Freda Forever. This book tells a true story from 1892. She is also set to direct a live-action movie based on Clive Barker's book The Thief of Always.

Filmmaking Style

The Babadook is different from typical horror movies. It mixes psychological drama with horror. It focuses on how a child's imagination slowly becomes real. Kent uses horror elements in how the film is set up and how the camera moves. The movie uses techniques from German Expressionism. Many scenes feel confusing and dark.

Kent uses different ways to create horror compared to older horror film directors. For example, as The Babadook goes on, the old-fashioned house in the film changes. It starts to look like the mother's troubled mind.

Kent worked with a team to bring her ideas to life. Radek Ladczuk was the cinematographer, who helps film the movie. Kent was inspired by old movies. She first wanted to film The Babadook in black and white. She used colors like "muted grey-and-blue and hints of red" as the story got scarier. Ladczuk said the film had five main emotions. These were anxiety, fear, terror, possession, and courage. They used different camera lenses to show the mother's feelings. They also used special camera tools like a Steadicam. Many shots were done directly with the camera. Kent felt this made the film scarier and more real than adding things later with CGI.

The Babadook is shown from the mother's point of view. The challenges of being a mother are a big part of the story. Many scenes in the film show the everyday struggles that mothers face. These everyday moments are mixed with scary and suspenseful parts. The film ends with the mother learning to control the scary creature. She protects her child and keeps the creature in the basement.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
2005	Monster	Yes	Yes	No	Short film
2014	The Babadook	Yes	Yes	No	First feature film; based on the short Monster
2018	The Nightingale	Yes	Yes	Yes

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	The Well	Marg Trinder
1998	Chlorine Dreams	Lisa (mum)	Short
1998	Babe: Pig in the City	Lab Lady
2002	Six Days Straight	Meg	Short
2003	Preservation	Grieving Mother

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Episode
2006	Two Twisted	Yes	No	"Love Crimes"
2022	Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities	Yes	Yes	"The Murmuring"