I’m a film maker, not an economist, a social worker, a sociologist, a top manager, an anthropologist, a doctor, a psychologist, a teacher. Or maybe I am in a way. I guess I do not have the expertise, the experience and the necessary knowledge to claim any of these titles. I am not a NGO ex-pat, a political activist, a judge, a politician, a gangster, a diplomat, an orthodox Jew, an outcast, a neurologist, a sex worker. Maybe I could have decided to become them all, but I guess my life is to short. I am not an Aboriginal, a native Indian, a Khasi Christian, a Japanese geisha, a gaucho. Being born and raised in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, I was raised as a Flemish person. I was pushing it already with the orthodox Jew. I can assure you, it’s really hard to become a fake one.

The project Ether is not a film. It should become a platform on which discussions can be held on various subjects. Starting points will be the content of the four films I should have finished by then. I want this to happen on stage, in theatres all over the world, on the internet, in private rooms, in various significant locations. Everything will depend on how much I will be able to organize, and what people I can attract to take part in it. I will film it all, and post most of it on the internet. I will guide a lot of the discussions, not only as a mediator, but also as a person with his own ideas and opinions. Sometimes I will let other people do the same. This will be because of various reasons.

Ether has, more then the four films, an aim to seek answers on the issues that will be discussed. The variety of all the subjects will probably make it difficult to see the project as being one whole. The reason why I work on it in this way, is because of ideas of interconnectivity. These ideas grew when a few years back I tried to create a film project dealing with the future of our multicultural, globalized and ageing developed welfare states.