Many South African filmmakers are still very unsure about the mechanisms of international distribution, marketing and sales. The international success of Blair was a wonderful aspect of Blair that really was out of our hands. Summit Entertainment did a great job working with Artisan to implement much the same plan that had been developed for the domestic distribution. As a direct result we have been working with Summit extensively on our next film. They were the first company to get Heart of Love.
Comedies are tricky when it comes to the international market place.
Many comedies stem from the particular eccentricities of a countries culture - such as Leon Schuster's films. One of my favorite South African films that broke the international challenge was Ashley Lazarus' E' Lollipop. I think it is vital for independent and international producers to understand the international market as it truly is the only way those films can succeed. Marketing is very important to us, as we believe it is an extension of the story telling process. We have a lot of ideas for what we're going to do.