Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton, the Causeway Films producers behind Talk To Me and Leviticus, have launched Baby Jane, an Australian film distributor, in partnership with Talk To Me directors Danny and Michael Philippou, Screen and IF Magazine reported on Monday 26 October (Tuesday 27 October in Sydney). No titles or financial backers were announced.
Key facts
- Baby Jane: Australian film distributor, announced 26 October 2026 (27 October in Sydney).
- Founders: Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton of Causeway Films, with Danny and Michael Philippou as partners.
- First hires: Felix Hubble, head of exhibition and acquisitions; Michelle Melky, head of marketing.
- Remit: auteur-driven genre films for Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences, local and international.
It takes the producers into distribution in their home market, where other companies have released their films so far. Baby Jane says it will also buy local and imported films made by others.
What Baby Jane says it will do
Baby Jane will release “auteur-driven genre films” for younger audiences, Australian and international, according to the company’s statement as carried by IF Magazine. Campaigns will be digital-first. “We’re known for producing bold titles and now we want to distribute bold titles,” Jennings said in the statement.
Its website calls it an independent Australian distributor for “cult(ure)” cinema from emerging talent.
Baby Jane is separate from Causeway, with its own partners and board, IF Magazine reported. Causeway’s productions will not go to it by default: Causeway and the Philippous will keep working with other Australian distributors, according to both reports.
The first two hires
Felix Hubble joins as head of exhibition and acquisitions. He co-founded the screening collective Static Vision, where he oversaw the cinema release of Kristoffer Borgli’s Sick of Myself, ran the screen programme at SXSW Sydney and advised Sydney Film Festival on programming from 2019 to 2026.
Michelle Melky, the head of marketing, spent the past year in the market and audience team at Screen Australia, the federal funding agency. Before that she was global creative director at the creator-economy agency Amplify. Ceyton said the pair have “non-traditional backgrounds”, adding that Baby Jane does not want to be a traditional distributor.
The producers’ track record
Causeway launched in 2014 with The Babadook, FilmInk reported when the company opened a London office in 2023. A 2022 Screen profile says Ceyton set it up and Jennings later joined as an equal partner; the launch reports call both founders. Talk To Me, the Philippous’ debut, sold to A24 at Sundance in 2023. It has grossed $92.2m worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, which counts 73 markets in the 2023 release plus a 2025 re-release in New Zealand.
Leviticus, Adrian Chiarella’s debut, premiered at Sundance in January 2026, and Neon bought rights outside Australia and New Zealand, IF Magazine reported. Maslow Entertainment, which holds the Australian and New Zealand rights, opened it in both markets on 18 June. By 7 October, its 16th week, it had grossed A$1.48m ($1.03m) in Australia, according to Numero actuals published by the Australia In Cinemas newsletter. Screen’s $1.5m for Australia and New Zealand over 14 weeks names no currency but is in line with that Australian-dollar total. Box Office Mojo has a further $61,300 in New Zealand, a US-dollar figure, and puts Neon’s North American gross at $7.2m.
Who pays for Baby Jane’s acquisitions, how many films it plans a year and when its first release opens were not disclosed.
Our reading
Producers who have watched their films travel through other people’s release campaigns are betting they can run those campaigns themselves, for a younger audience they say they know how to reach. The non-exclusive structure matters. Baby Jane has to win Causeway and Philippou titles on commercial terms, as any rival distributor would, and its plan to buy local and imported films puts it up against Australia’s established independents for the rest of its slate. The first test is that opening slate: whether a Philippou or Causeway film is on it, or whether Baby Jane leads with a title it has bought from outside.