Since the U.S. release of What the BLEEP in the United States in 2004, the film has been slowly and relentlessly working its way around the globe. Our foreign sales agent - Richard Guardian of Lightning Entertainment - has been patiently looking for, and finding the right distributors to release a film that still fits in none of the normal release scenarios.

With the recent signing of France and Italy, the only major territory yet to be signed is Japan. I am told for a very independent film this is quite remarkable. Our vision of getting 100 million souls around the planet to see it appears to not be so crazy as it seemed in 2003 when every U.S. distributor walked out the door. By our best guesstimates we are at about 50 million.

The best country attendance per capita was Australia, bettering the attendance in the U.S. When Mark did the opening tour there he said the response was wonderful. Hmm, maybe it’s time to move...

Latin America did very well, with Mexico leading the charge. The response in Germany was also big. So much so that the distributors have created the Bleep Kongress at the end of October in Berlin. bleepkongress.de [1] They are flying me and Fred Alan Wolf over for talks, Q&A sessions, and who knows what else.

And while I’m there, it’s off to Paris for the opening of What the Bleep on November 7th. quesaitonvraimentdelarealite-lefilm.com [2]

Meanwhile our book has been translated and published in 22 countries.

It has been fascinating to see how overall the response has been the same around the world. A full 98% of the distributors never think it will work in their country - that it was "only a U.S. phenomena." At every release the media pretty well trashes the film, as does the scientific establishment. (England was the worse for this.) But, people seem to come anyway! BLEEP groups spring up, and we continue to get emails from around the world.

The similarity of responses says to me that this shift in perceptions and belief systems is a worldwide event. That the forces constraining humanity are the same, and that the search for something better is worldwide. Onward and upward!

Will

(For a complete listing of international releases: whatthebleep.com/international [3] )