Project Description
Indus Talkies – ‘Cake’ the movie
OVERVIEW
Pakistan’s contender for the Oscars foreign-language category, Cake was the must-see UK/Pakistani film of 2018, described as “Revolutionary” and given four stars by the Guardian’s Mike McCahill.
CHALLENGES
Writer-Director Asim Abbasi envisaged ‘Cake’ as a film that is authentically Pakistani and contemporary. The film challenged industry norms, where films made for the mass audience are typically crass or conservative.The challenge with any kind of innovative cinema is to identify the target audiences, and engage with them early on. As Cake appealed to both South Asian and non-Asian audiences, there was a risk of falling between South Asian and non-Asian audiences, and mainstream and non-mainstream.
OUTCOMES
The film was successfully distributed around the world, grossing $850,000, and continued playing six weeks after release.
WORK COMPLETED
- Assistance developing overall positioning of the film, to maximise domestic and international audiences.
- Comprehensive feedback on successive edits of the film.
- Evaluating alternative festival and sales strategies, and UK PR
- Negotiating UK, international distribution, and music licensing agreements with top tier global distributor
- Negotiating Pakistan distribution agreement
- Helped organise test screening with diverse London audience
- Sourcing global digital distribution deal
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
“Rowan Glade helped guide us through the process of bringing Cake from the edit room to audiences, providing a critical sounding board, and expertise in sales and distribution”
