Jennifer Kent

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

Last updated September 01, 2025

Jennifer Kent is an Australian director, screenwriter, and former actress. She is best known for writing and directing the psychological horror film The Babadook (2014). Her second film, The Nightingale (2018), premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for the Golden Lion.

Early life and education

Jennifer Kent was born in Brisbane, Queensland. She says that she put on her first play when she was seven and also wrote stories. In her late teens, she chose acting as she "wasn't really aware at that stage that women could direct films".^[1]

She graduated in 1991 from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Performing Arts (Acting).^[2]

Career

Acting

Kent began her career as an actress, working primarily in television. She was a main cast member of Murder Call , from creator Hal McElroy, playing Constable, Dee Suzeraine, in all 31 episodes of the series. She also appeared in several episodes of other Australian TV series such as All Saints , Police Rescue and Above the Law . Kent also had a small role in Babe: Pig in the City and The New Adventures of Black Beauty . She has also been an acting teacher for 13 years at major institutions such as NIDA and the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS).^[3]

Directing

After losing interest in acting, Kent was inspired after seeing Dancer in the Dark to pursue a career as a filmmaker. She wrote to the director Lars von Trier, asking to study under him and explaining that she found the idea of film school repellent.^[4] In 2002 von Trier allowed her to assist him as part of a directing attachment on the set of his film Dogville (2003) starring Nicole Kidman.^[5] In 2006 Kent directed an episode of Two Twisted , an Australian series following in the tradition of The Twilight Zone .^[3]

In 2005 Kent directed her short film Monster, which was screened at over 50 festivals around the world, including Telluride, Montreal World, and Slamdance film festivals, SXSW, and Aspen Shortsfest.^[3]

In 2014 she adapted her short into a feature-length film The Babadook starring Essie Davis whom Kent had known through drama school.^[6] The film tells the story of a single mother played by Davis who must confront a sinister presence in her home while dealing with the emotional fallout of her husband's death. Kent Explains "[she] was always quite fascinated by people who could suppress really dark, deep, painful experiences and [she] wanted to explore the idea that perhaps pushing down on those terrible experiences is harder than facing them". The Babadook premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival,^[7] and was quickly picked up for distribution in the U.S. by IFC Films. Kent did five drafts of the feature script, received most of her funding from the South Australian Film Corporation, then conducted a Kickstarter campaign to help raise US$30,000 to pay for set construction.^[2]^[8]The Babadook received widespread critical acclaim, and doubled its budget with $4.9 million in the worldwide box office.^[9]^[10]The Babadook script won the Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting at the 2015 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards.^[11]

Kent has been vocal in the press about the lack of female directors in horror cinema.^[12] "It will shift, as the world shifts. Women do love watching scary films. It's been proven, and they’ve done all the tests. The demographics are half men, and half women. And we know fear. It's not like we can't explore the subject."^[12]

Kent met with executives at Warner Bros. in late 2014 to talk about possibly directing the Wonder Woman film, a job which eventually went to Patty Jenkins.^[13]

The Babadook (2014)

Her first feature-length film, The Babadook , is a supernatural horror film written and directed by Kent. In late 2014, Kent announced that, due to popular demand, a limited edition of the Mister Babadook pop-up book featured in her film The Babadook would be published in 2015. Kent wrote the book in collaboration with illustrator Alex Juhasz, who had created the prop book used in the film. The book sold out its run of 6,200 copies.^[5]

The Nightingale (2018)

Her second film, The Nightingale , deals with murder and revenge in 1825 Tasmania.^[14] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film garnered an approval rating of 86%, based on 234 reviews.^[15]

Future projects

When asked whether she would be doing a sequel to The Babadook, Kent said that she "will never allow any sequel to be made, because it's not that kind of film."^[16]^{[ better source needed ]}

One of her scripts, Grace, won the Prix Du Scenario for unproduced scripts at the Cinéma des Antipodes festival at Saint Tropez,^[5] which presents films from Australia and New Zealand, but Kent said in October 2014, "The story of Grace was very much what I ended up making with The Babadook ."^[17] She told The Guardian in May 2014 that HBO was courting her for a TV series.^[1]

In June 2015, it was reported that the nonfiction book Alice + Freda Forever was being adapted into a film that Kent would write and direct. The book tells the real-life story of Alice Mitchell and her lover Freda Ward whom she killed in 1892.^[18] The film's producer is Sarah Schechter.^[19]

Currently she is scheduled to direct the live-action adaptation of Clive Barker's novel The Thief of Always .^[20]

Film techniques

The Babadook strays from the typical approach to the genre of horror by using a mix of psychological drama and horror and focusing on the imagination of children slowly turning into a reality. Kent does this by using horror elements in the layout and camerawork.^[21] The film uses German expressionist techniques; many of the scenes are disorienting and dark.^[22] Kent uses different approaches to the horror genre from classic horror film directors. As The Babadook progresses, for example, the Victorian-style house which is the main set mimics the mother's mental state.^[21]

Kent brought together a team of people she felt could bring her idea to the screen. Radek Ladczuk was the film's cinematographer and helped bring her ideas to life. Kent was influenced by old movies, and initially wanted to film the movie in black and white.^[21] She used many different techniques to embody a terrifying set, using colours like "muted grey-and-blue and hints of red as the story became more suspenseful".^[23] Ladczuk states that there were five aspects to this film, all shown with different camera movements. The film is split into five different emotions: anxiety, fear, terror, possession, and courage.^[21] By shooting with a 32mm lens they were able to capture the mother's feelings and later changed to a 14mm lens. They also used a Steadicam and static camera^[21] to help develop the film's layers. Fast and slow motion effects were also added throughout the film, as well as stop motion, and they even mounted a camera vertically on the wall to help with certain shots.^[21] A lot of the shots were done in camera because Kent felt that it made the film scarier and more realistic than adding stuff in with CGI later.^[24]

The Babadook is presented from the mother's perspective; the struggle of motherhood is a major component of the film's story. According to Clarke, many scenes in the film are relatable because they show the everyday struggles of mothers. Clarke argues that Kent touches on not only parenting but dealing with gossipy friends and sexuality, as shown in a scene where the mother is masturbating. These everyday themes are interspersed with moments of terror and suspense; techniques of classic horror. The film ends with the female lead taming the beast by defending her child, and keeping it in the basement.^[22]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
2005	Monster	Yes	Yes	No	Short film
2014	The Babadook	Yes	Yes	No	Debut film and 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

Other credits

Year	Title	Role
2003	Dogville	Production assistant
2006	Hunt Angels	Script editor

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"^[25]