Fine film-making, clever marketing set to make Jock top dog

What's more, it could give the local animation industry serious global bite and help set South Africa up as a hub for this burgeoning film sector.

The South African film sector has in many ways been the runt of the litter. The industry started more than 100 years ago after Thomas Edison invented the Kinetescope and flicks were shown in an arcade on Pritchard and President streets in a young mining town called Johannesburg. The local industry has enjoyed singular successes, but hasn't quiet managed the sustained growth of India or Australia, which consistently produce films with international clout and often compete with Hollywood.

At about the same time movies first started being shown in Joburg, adventurer-author Percy FitzPatrick saved a shrimp of a puppy from being drowned in a bucket. The two became friends and the dog's story was immortalised by FitzPatrick in a book called "Jock of the Bushveld". Jock became a legend because of his intelligence, can-do character and the many menacing scenarios this courageous little dog survived.

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