Longer Reads: You Don’t Have To Go It Alone—A Hence Expert Services Case Study

When The Filmmakers Who Created "Of The Black Sea" Needed Help With Sponsorship Sales, Distribution, and Event PR. We Connected them with Hence Expert Services.

The story behind Of The Black Sea is the story behind most passion projects—the cinematography, location scouting, character development, storyline, and editing is the easy part for creative professionals and their subjects; the business side, especially for creatives, not so much.

In this case, the freeride athlete Giray Dadali had a story to tell about his ancestry and connection to Türkiye through skiing. He teamed up with fellow Utah skier, the filmmaker Hennie van Jaarsveld, to tell that story. The result was a beautiful film about what it means to be a skier and the child of immigrants.

But the work did not stop with the final edit and the flurry of prestigious film festival acceptances. Giray and Hennie had larger plans for Of The Black Sea. In addition to recouping costs, they wanted to reach the largest audience possible to share the message and the meaning with.

That’s when Hence’s Expert Services program stepped in. Here’s how our consultants helped.

Hennie and Giray on location for "Of The Black Sea"

How To Win The Local Screening Game

The Challenge: In addition to the film festival circuit, Giray and Hennie were planning three local screenings to support sponsors and connect with the markets they know best—Salt Lake City, Park City, and Burlington. But Hennie is a filmmaker and editor and Giray is an athlete and product developer: Locking in venues and navigating PR and earned media are not their strengths.

Expert Service Provided: Hennie and Giray consulted with Hence consultant Jesse Ambrogi (now the Global Marketing Manager for Armada Skis). Jesse’s background included event marketing for two of the best brand filmmakers in skiing—Faction and Salomon. On a one-hour call, Jesse sketched out a plan, provided contacts, and then followed up with outreach that resulted in earned media and strong turnouts.

Hennie’s Take: Working with Jesse taught us that people are in their respective roles for a reason. As much as we all like to think we can wear all the hats, you just can’t succeed doing that. Jesse made connections that we would never have come up with on our own. She gave us a roadmap for how to deliver turnout. If we didn’t have her help we almost certainly would have lost money on each showing, instead we came out ahead. For a passion project, that’s invaluable.

Cutting Red Tape

The Challenge: For their Park City screening, Giray and Hennie needed to deal with Utah’s restrictive bureaucracy to sell beer and wine at the show.

Expert Service Provided: In an unusual coincidence, only the year before Hence cofounders Eric Moxham and Jed Duke had collaborated with Faction skis on a Park City screening presented by Hence. Jed and Eric took on the role of Hence Experts and detailed every hoop that needed to be jumped through to save countless hours of frustration for the filmmakers.

Giray’s Take: Local knowledge is a super important aspect of making films. We knew that, which is why we took so much time developing relationships in Türkiye. We had no idea that the logistics for a screening back home would be so challenging. Jed and Eric spent a lot of time walking us through permitting, insurance, venue rentals, and booking adjacent rooms for the raffle.

Distribution is Always The Biggest Challenge

The Challenge: Hennie and Giray outperformed their expectations with their local screenings and festival submissions, but as with any feature-length documentary, larger distribution of Of The Black Sea was and is a pressing challenge. To help them develop a strategy, they connected with Hence Roster Expert Bryan Cole, who, in addition to a career in athlete management and media, is perhaps best known for his multi-year collaboration with Cody Townsend on “The Fifty Project” and beyond.

Expert Service Provided: Bryan was able to walk the guys through the realities of distribution in 2025: streaming services like Netflix and Amazon have largely moved on from most adventure documentaries, and subscription-based outlets like YouTube and other potential partners they’d considered come with paywalls that wouldn’t serve the goal of getting as many eyeballs on the film as possible and offering it for free overseas. Bryan’s plan was more concrete: Reach out to obvious partners like Türkiye’s travel, tourism, and skiing agencies.

Giray’s Take: When Hennie learned that Bryan was part of the Hence network he was ecstatic. That was the appeal of Hence from the start. We have a network but Hence has a bigger network. We chatted about a lot of general advice on the initial call. But then the relationship grew.

Hennie at a festival screening. The film earned laurels from Banff, Vancouver, Five Point, New York Assemble, Wasatch and more.

Experts Advice Can Turn Into Partnerships

The Challenge: Giray and Hennie had developed on-the-ground relationships in Türkiye during filming, but to meet their distribution goals they needed strategy and mentoring to move forward.

Expert Service Provided: Hence Expert Services are paid, hourly consultations. The Expert sets the price. Hence takes a small commission from that paid consultation. But importantly, any future contracted work between a client and a Hence Expert is their own business. With Of The Black Sea, Bryan came on as an Executive Producer. His role is to look out for Hennie and Giray’s best interests and also work with a producer they brought on in Türkiye to help secure distribution and partnerships.

Hennie’s Take: Bryan has been along for the ride with us ever since. I knew him before, but not so well that I would have cold called him for help. But he instantly recognized that this project was bigger than a guy making videos and a skier taking a trip to his homeland. He’s worked on international films before. He saw the potential to get the film in front of a bigger audience. That’s what we are pursuing now.