‘Babadook’ director grapples with divisive follow-up

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — “Babadook” director Jennifer Kent is back at the Sundance Film Festival five years after her breakout debut hit with her follow-up “The Nightingale.” But reactions to the violent period piece set in 1825 Tasmania have been more divisive and extreme.

The film follows an Irish convict who hunts a cruel British officer through the wilderness to get revenge for what he did to her and her family.

Kent says that she thought she made a film about love and is proud that she had the guts to give her own point of view, no matter what audiences think.

IFC is releasing “The Nightingale” in theaters this summer.