Simpson Kennet London Film Company has re-launched itself with a new roster of international directors under the name Transparent.

Simpson Kennet was formed 10 years ago by Richard Simpson and Eilon Kennet, but the duo recently felt the desire to offer something new and exciting to the London market.

Focusing on introducing new directors from overseas, Transparent will sidestep gambling with inexperienced directors on home turf in favor of introducing brand-new yet experienced talent from abroad.

"The name Transparent is not gratuitous because that's exactly how we want to be perceived," explains Kennet. "A new company offering a global solution to satisfy the industry's desire for brand-new talent, but in the form of experienced directors from abroad; it sounds likes great advertising nonsense but we really do want to create a fresh new company as yet unseen in the UK."

However, the process of gathering the international talent was somewhat slower than Kennet and Simpson predicted. "We anticipated that it would take six months to collect a package of directors that complemented each other; in the end the process took us closer to a year," admits Kennet.

The threefold key for Transparent was to find directors doing top-of-the-line work comparable to that being done by their contemporaries in the UK market, that were fluent in English, and who were also accessible and available at a moment's notice.

"The primary consideration we had above everything was that every director displayed a strong individual style," explains Kennet when gathering the talent. "That became quite critical for us. We really want to build an identity for the company where, in terms of building a profile, we build quality work from the ground up."

Transparent has, after a year of research, collected a roster of directors who are all doing the best work in their respective fields. Most importantly, their work is not characterized by local cultural constraints.

The roster at present consists of Americans Sherri Breyer and Len Peltier, Italy's top photographer Fabrizio Ferri, South African Ian Gabriel, Spaniard Eduardo Maclean and Israelis Guy Sagy and Shahar Segal.

As an adjunct to the main company, an interactive division will be launched entitled Transparent Digital and will operate in partnership with a Web design/new media company. Transparent will utilize its production knowledge in tandem with the Web design/new media company expertise.

"There will be a proliferation of work once broadband gets online in the UK in approximately one year," says Kennet on the venture. "At the moment people don't quite understand the technology and don't know how far they can go, but they will soon be crying out for help. In essence, we have about one year to create a solid identity on the interactive side."