Dos Santos shared that he believes South African filmmakers must get their work past our borders. “We need to be looking internationally, we need to be playing internationally. Los Angeles is the home of film and cinema. The fact that we can make content in South Africa that can compete on an international level is important,” he said. He added: “The film is of very high quality, I want people to know that we can create high-quality content in Africa. Even here, we can still punch way above our weight. I want people in LA and people around the world to see that.”
Dos Santos, now 33, only went into directing at the age of 30. Three years ago, he quit his job as an attorney to pursue a career in film. He described the transition as challenging, considering how different the two careers were. “When I left, I did not take off my court robes to sit in the director’s seat and tell people what to do. I have had to work my way up. Although I have been in film for a while, I only recently started directing,” he said. “I did not give that up to mess around. I take what I do very seriously and I want to make life-changing films,” the director added.
Since the film’s release in May, it was chosen to form part of the Hollywood International Golden Age Festival later this month. This festival is affiliated with IMDb and prioritises films based solely on artistic quality. Dos Santos said that his desire to change the world for the better was why he became an attorney and in that, realised that it was not the method in which he could make a change. This led him to film. “My motivation is that I want people to watch what I create and be inspired to do something great.”