| Charlie Ebersol knew he had to make this film when he first met young Victor. It was at the end of Charlie’s first trip to SOWETO, as he was preparing to return to the States. Victor grabbed Charlie and requested an on-camera interview. After talking for a couple of minutes, Victor stopped suddenly, glanced right and left, and then looked directly into the camera and said “Actually, I am going to change the whole world.” He did not say it like he was trying to sell anyone on it, but simply as another fact about himself. It was the truth. After the completion of principal photography in August 2003, Charlie got back to the US with a daunting 55 hours of footage to edit. He found an invaluable resource in his mother, Susan Saint James, who joined him to help shape the film. From 2:00 in the afternoon (after classes were over) until 3:00 in the morning, mother and son edited in Charlie’s apartment. Two weeks of this collaboration gave Charlie the necessary momentum. Susan returned home and Charlie continued, working for the next three months to turn the raw footage into the film it has become. |
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| Kip Kroeger never expected to be a filmmaker. A biology major and son of a doctor, he discovered – like the students of Ithuteng – that what you are meant to do is not necessarily what you planned to do. Kip was shocked to find himself leaving the United States for the first time in his life to make a film in South Africa. What changed his destiny was simply a story he really believed in. On the ground, Kip took quite naturally to the role of producer. Everywhere there was a need, grand or mundane, he filled it. Teaching himself to operate the sound equipment, cataloging the footage, even performing CPR on Ithuteng students during a highly emotional night at the camp, Kip held the film together. |
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| At the age of 16, Willie Ebersol traveled to the other side of the world to tell a story about how love grows in a place where most people can only think about survival. Willie had known for a long time that he wanted to be a director. At The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, he had enjoyed great success with his innovative shorts and “spec” commercials. In 2003, after finishing his junior year, Willie planned to spend his vacation at film camps, slowly building his reel. The summer had something much greater in store for him. In mid-July, his brother Charlie and their friend Kip Kroeger invited Willie to direct a documentary about the Ithuteng Trust School in SOWETO, South Africa. The proposal sounded both challenging and terrifying, and Willie accepted. Soon, on July 27th, he was flying to another hemisphere to begin the 17-day shoot. The honesty and vulnerability revealed in the film’s child subjects is a testament to Willie’s ability to connect with them on the most personal level. |
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