YOU

Hi Stranger!
... or not so stranger?What are you doing here? I'm curious—I'm a filmmaker.Would you let me know? I'd be glad to help!

ME

Moments on Film:

Check Out:

• Filmography
• Photography

Strangers Now... Soon Friends?Aren’t we all strangers to one another? I often find myself wondering what I’m doing here—wherever ‘here’ may be—a question that reflects in my work.Dive into the Strangers.Now project, and let’s start a conversation!Or, learn more below about what my work entails.

I Make Films HappenFilmmaker and photographer for decades in the film and television industry, my collaborations with directors have resulted in an Oscar-nominated film and an IDFA festival opening.My work has aired on numerous networks—including the BBC, CNN, ARTE, Euronews, TF1, TSR, RTBF, VRT, Radio-Canada, YLE, NOS—and coproduced by some of them.

Film DirectorAs a storyteller and documentary filmmaker at heart, I have made films both independently and for international organizations such as the UN, the International Red Cross, and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)—a Nobel Peace Prize laureate for which I was part of the delegation in Oslo (2013).I have a very hands-on approach to filmmaking, and I usually edit and DP my own projects.

My WayWhat I create is always unscripted. Discover my approach here, along with a call for light, independent filmmaking:

• ▶ Unscripted, Structured, Unfunded

Consultant/CoachI’m available to consult or provide input as a dramaturge or co-director to support you in making your film.

PhotographerI specialize in portrait. One of my other focuses is ‘urban photography’, which has been a passion of mine since my childhood in Brussels.

YOU

Who Are You?

• ▶ Search no more!

ME

I'm Eric...a filmmaker captivated by the lives of ordinary people. I believe in the power of connection—connections forged between audiences and characters on screen, bridging differences rather than clinging to sameness. My work explores stories that reveal humanity’s shared struggles and achievements, often hidden behind walls and borders, both real and imagined.My own journey began with boundaries. Born in Belgium to a German mother displaced by war and a father reluctant to have more children after personal loss, my identity was shaped by these contrasts. Growing up in Brussels, I learned early on that boundaries could be crossed—not through conquests, but through play and curiosity.One of the most striking boundaries in my life was the Berlin Wall, which I experienced repeatedly—crossing it as a child and later until I witnessed its fall in 1989. That moment transformed my world and opened doors to an international career, allowing me to film stories all around the world.

Learn more about my personal story and how Eric might never have been ‘Eric’:

• ▶ Scenes from a Life's Film

YOU

I'm Asking You:Why do you do what you do? What moves you? (I love the double meaning.)Remember, I’m curious: “Eric must know this,” but only after “seeing this."So, show me!Maybe I’ll make a movie about you. Or with you. Or for you. Or about something that truly matters to you—a theme you feel compelled to share.

Why Work With Me?One possible answer: because we have little in common. And if we’re perfect strangers, well, that’s a perfect start!Read on below.

ME

Stranger-nessStrangers can be just as compelling as stars. I believe in revealing lives. Like the Kurdish mechanic, the Indian scientist, the young Cambodian girl and all the others in my documentaries—each has a story worth telling. Their experiences can become ours.I connect easily with people in real life—not just through words, but through shared feelings. That’s what I strive to transmit.Aren't films an engaging way to do that?

Walls or Bridges?Torn apart by the divisions in my own family, I’ve always felt like a stranger myself. This led me to realize that, as social cohesion frays in many places, it is urgent to put aside prejudice and cultivate curiosity—about others, about differences, about the synapses between us that weave the social fabric, our collective human intelligence.The fall of the Berlin Wall is long behind us. Today, many build new walls—real or mental—to shape a binary world, separating people into fixed identities or mere objects.I prefer bridges and nuance. We need to embrace complexity, human doubts, and fragility.

Hospitality? Films!Once, hospitality was a sacred duty. Unknown travellers exchanged stories with locals, enriching one another. But such spontaneous exchanges have become rare—confined to hotels, institutions, or dramatic portrayals of migration in the media, as good news is no news anyway.But strangers have always held a special place in cinema. The outsider who changes everything. The wanderer who reveals hidden truths.Films offer a safe first step toward the unknown. The screen is both a protective shield and an open window—letting us experience another's emotions and broaden our perspectives.

Inverting the MirrorAll too often, we hold our selfie cameras up as mirrors, reinforcing our own image and beliefs... with a little help from algorithms.So I turn the mirror outward, inviting audiences to discover the stranger is, in fact, their own reflection—just as unique, just as different, fallen into a life they haven't decided for themselves, wandering through stories they never expected to be part of.I like to do so horizontally—aligned with the big screen, as our eyes are—to welcome many in the frame rather than a solitary self. After all, without others, we wouldn’t even exist.

A Stranger Way to Filmmaking...That's my stranger way as a filmmaker—some kind of a matchmaker between strangers.What do you think?

Discover more in the full version:

• ▶ Why Focus on Strangerness?

YOU

If you need:

▶ External, constructive, expert feedback on your filmmaking, along with guidance to craft the most compelling story.▶ A portrait photo—for online use, print, or as a family keepsake.▶ A hands-on, autonomous film director for your documentary, corporate video, commercial, or music video.▶ The recording of a personalized video statement.▶ Limited-edition fine art photographs to display on your walls.▶ Information about my work.I can surely be of assistance!

ME

If you feel like supporting my work in any way—whether by co-financing or co-producing one of my current projects—please reach out!You can check below to see if any of these projects resonate with you. Documentation and access to filmed materials will gladly be sent upon request.

▶ Out of PlaceMy project on migrants fleeing the war in Ukraine, put into perspective with my childhood and family history, marked by the Second World War. An enlightening reflection on post-war Europe—an era I believe belongs to the past, as we may now have entered pre-war Europe (war does rage on the continent).Filming is underway.

▶ "What Am I Doing Here?"
(aka "Strangers Now")A web series of short videos, visible on:www.strangers.now (Substack)www.strangers.tube (YouTube)Filming is underway.

▶ The Strength of AngelsA 1998 feature-length film about Vanna, a young Cambodian girl, is looking for projection screens. A story that remains relevant today, with striking parallels to the war in Ukraine.See PDF.

▶ SequelsSeveral sequel possibilities could be produced. Let’s talk.

▶ Urban PhotographyMy photography work awaits you for an exhibition. A selection can be viewed here:
www.bruxellisation.comParticularly the most recent series, shot in Vilnius:
https://bruxellisation.com/vilnius-with-a-viewPrints are available for sale. Let me know which photos you'd like.

What You Can Do Right AwayPromote my work, by all means!

Do you want to leave me a note? I'd be happy to connect with you.

• Linktree
• Substack
• LinkedIn
• Vimeo
• Camera
• YouTube
• Message

Scenes from a Life's Film

Eric, really?My name was born of an unexpected twist. Although my parents had originally agreed on "Axel", it was on a last-minute whim, just after my birth, that my father decided to register "Eric". So my mother only discovered the name of her child when my father returned to us at the hospital.

Belgian?According to my passport, I’m Belgian, but nationality doesn’t sit comfortably with me—it's just a part of who I am. My identity, if any, is a blend of my personal journey, my travels, and my work, not just a place on a map.

A Good AccidentDisplaced by the Second World War, my German mother started a new life with my Belgian father, who, after the trauma of his first wife abducting their son, was initially against having more children. Yet here I am—born "by accident"—a blend of these histories, exploring the world around me and beyond.

Over the WallsGrowing up in Brussels, my friends and I turned wastelands into our playgrounds, oblivious to the garden walls adults erected. We learned early on that boundaries could be crossed in play, not with conquests but with childhood mischief.

A Wall Comes DownWhile we played, we ignored the scars of the era, like the Berlin Wall, but I couldn't escape its reality when I regularly visited my German relatives locked on the other side.Years later, in 1989, with East Germany on the brink of collapse, the last time I crossed that wall of shame, that intangible division, it was again out of mischief: with a forged passport.Then, the fall of the Iron Curtain opened up new perspectives on a freer world, and my life was to change forever.

A Train to the WorldLike a domino effect, the fall of the Wall shook up my professional life. An incredible twist of fate on the train bringing me back from Berlin took me even further—away from Belgium, into international organizations, and to filming across the globe. The wall fell, and the world opened up to me.

Berlin, 1989. The ‘V’ sign formed by my fingers expressed, all at once, victory over authoritarianism, certainly; perhaps also the reunion of a pair that had been separated until then, like branches rejoining the tree, and the first letter of my surname.

That train, over the following decades, led me to participate in the production of a TV magazine for a UN agency, broadcast in some 150 countries; to direct feature-length documentaries; to work as a broadcast cameraman and editor covering EU news; to advise renowned directors in the making of their films; to produce corporate films; and to be part of the OPCW's Nobel Peace Prize, for which I initiated and directed a series of documentary films.It was like a parenthesis in time—before the divisions of the world resurfaced.

Read on:▶ Why My Work Has Come to Focus on Strangerness

• BACK TO 'WHO'
• CONTINUE TO ‘WHY’

Selected Filmography

30+ years of experience as a director, cameraman, editor on documentaries, commercials, and news reports working with/forOPCW - UNDP - United Nations - UNICEF - WTO - ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) - European Commission -
Handicap International - All-TV - Belgian TV-RTBF/VRT - ARTE - TF1 - Radio Canada - NOS - Swiss TV-TSR - Associated Press-APTN - Reuters TV and moreSeveral awards, one Oscar nomination

Films directed/produced include

Films made for the United Nations Development Programme

Films on which I served as a creative adviser to the director include

Misc.Hundreds of films, documentaries, commercials, and corporate films shot or edited

For access to certain documentaries and features, please reach out to me.
Meanwhile, a few of my short films from different genres can be screened here:

• Short Films on Vimeo

• BACK TO 'WHAT'

Fully Unscripted
Finely Structured
Poorly Funded

In the beginning, people didn't have a script. The script was invented by accountants who needed to know what Mack Sennett had shot during the day. He'd fill out a sheet of paper: a pair of socks, a car, three cops, a girl in a bathing suit... And then they'd add verbs and adjectives: 'a girl in a bathing suit likes a cop who has three cars'... And it was called 'scenario'!” But it was the money that made the script!Jean-Luc Godard, interviewed on Cinéma des cinéastes (1982, radio broadcast).

Unscripted Doesn't Mean UnstructuredMy documentaries are always unscripted. Since I film myself, the camera becomes like a pen gliding across paper—or rather, gliding through the very reality I’m revealing. I can’t predict in advance what my ‘pen’ will produce because the act of shooting itself is the ‘description’ of what I discover. Structuring a movie's storyline is essential, but since reality is unpredictable, it’s important to seize first—I prefer ‘seize’ to 'capture'—images and sounds rather than written words, then gradually build a structure based on the material already gathered. Only once the editing is complete does the script emerge. The finished film is the script.I’m good at crafting films this way: as a film-maker, with few intermediate steps.

The Struggle for FinancingUnless you're a renowned director, this kind of cost-effective approach—with less preparation, a smaller crew and fast, efficient filming—has become increasingly challenging to finance through institutions, at least in Europe. On top of a script, they now require ever more prewritten content—an effort that consumes time while life unfolds, with precious moments slipping away from the camera, lost forever.Yet, none of these administrative measures can guarantee the quality or success of a film—quite the opposite. Many cinéma vérité films made since the 1960s—when lighter filming equipment made them possible, much like today—and which remain unique testimonies of their era, would never have seen the light of day under such conditions, as no filming can begin without the green light from funders—a process that can take years, with no guarantee of approval.The freshness of these films largely stems, precisely, from their translation of ideas and desires into action as soon as they emerged—at the time—energized by their inherent momentum.

Aimed at a Cinema I Love—Just Not MineThe procedures are designed for a certain type of cinema—preconceived and carefully prepared—often with standardized workflows, enabling the creation of elaborate productions that contrast with the light-handed approach I use.I’m more like a young YouTuber—only with 30+ years of experience—who, unlike many, turns his camera away from himself and towards others to tell their stories in feature-length cinematic films—provided he gets the resources that allow for long-term projects.

Unbearable LightnessIt seems that as equipment has become lighter still—with mirrorless cameras, for example, or perhaps smartphones and high-capacity memory cards replacing cumbersome 35mm cameras, as well as the once-considered lightweight 16mm cameras that revolutionized filmmaking in the sixties—filmmakers can now shoot spontaneously and abundantly.Yet, at the same time, heavy administrative requirements are holding them back from fully using these assets to bring innovative films to life—films that explore subjects in depth and are made professionally, meaning not only achieving the best results their medium allows, but also, crucially, making a living from it.

Everyone Wants to See the Film—Like NowIronically, the accumulation of procedures also becomes a burden for decision-makers who, as a producer friend recently told me, sometimes grant funding for a teaser simply because there isn’t enough staff to read the dossiers: it’s easier, faster, and more relevant to screen a film—even if only a teaser—than to read a submission. By the time the process is complete, a full-fledged film using my creative approach could have already been made.Because words can’t describe everything, I believe it’s more appropriate, sensible, and streamlined to make a film... by filmic means—like a painter, who doesn’t usually begin his painting by writing a description. Not to mention that it’s the only way for me to make the film I truly envision—with my whole body: my eyes, ears, hands, legs, brain, and heart.So, various signs suggest that most parties wish such a film would indeed be visible before it could even be funded, while—provided it is neither fiction nor a script-dependent documentary—it is this very financing process that prevents it from existing.

Rigidity Kills the YouTube StarThere is an urgent need for more flexible and imaginative submission procedures to help independent and solo filmmakers bring their projects to fruition while maintaining full creative control, regardless of their directorial approach or production workflow. These procedures should also allow for swift dissemination or release.Otherwise, we will never see the true diversity they offer. Instead, the creators risk being confined to producing commercial content designed primarily to generate advertising revenue on YouTube and other platforms.A generation of independent authors mastering instinctive filmmaking could be lost—if it isn't already. And with it, the cinematic portrayal of our societies, cultures, and lives for the vast majority of viewers—who are now on the web and social media.

The Timid Being That Cinema Cares ForAfter all, life—like the one we love to discover in movies, which, in my approach to filmmaking, must be seized delicately and in the moment—is an ephemeral and elusive creature that does not take kindly to the certainties and delays accountants demand.

• BACK TO 'WHAT'

Why My Work Has Come to Focus on Strangerness

If you missed it:▶ here’s a bit of my personal story.

Post-Wall, More WallsIn Berlin in 1989, as the wall was collapsing next to me, it seemed inconceivable that the lessons of history would go so profoundly unlearned and the following decades witness the rise of countless new walls¹—both real and mental.Today, the world is increasingly divided. Egos thrive. Wars are waged in the name of nationalism. Only a few seem to care about global warming. Antagonistic identities fracture humanity, while algorithmic bubbles fuel confirmation biases, convincing many that their perspective is the only valid one and that diversity is inherently wrong—nurturing policies of contempt that reduce others to mere objects.The web has become a peculiar sphere—a relentless, tasteless substitute for reality—where more and more socially disconnected individuals strive to shine, holding their phones like mirrors reflecting the fragility of their existence, flooding video platforms with an endless army of talking heads in an attempt to reconnect.

WHAT NOW?

Strangers and MeI enjoy connecting with people in real life. It’s about shared feelings—it goes beyond the words we exchange. Films allow similar connections, and hopefully, so do the documentaries I make.Strangers can become close; their experiences can become ours—whether it’s a young Cambodian girl, a victim of a landmine blast; French and Swiss customs officers facing each other in a village split by the border; a Dutch chemistry teacher promoting ethics in science; a Kurdish mechanic who miraculously survived a chemical attack; a Cameroonian fleeing war in Ukraine; or many more. I am convinced of the importance of revealing lives—when people are willing to share them.

Divisions Are Meant to Be CrossedTorn between family divisions, I have always felt like a stranger myself. This state shapes my views in a world of unravelling social cohesion. I’m asking you: isn’t it crucial to overcome prejudices, to foster curiosity about others, to explore differences, and to build connections? These connections are like bridges, allowing us to cross the gap between opposing perspectives and adding value—just as synapses enable neurons to generate intelligence².Humanity holds a richness inaccessible to solitary egos or manichean ideas that ostracize. Why would we be prisoners of identities? We are different, defying all labels or flags, and deserve to be recognized for the complexity of our personal stories³.
A Stranger's Way to Filmmaking…
…is my way of being a stranger.In cinema, strangers hold a special place. Numerous movies tell the story of an unwanted outsider who disrupts the status quo and reveals deeper truths, often playing a key role in transforming a community. Of course, sometimes the Alien is a bad guy, usually the one who’s remembered—eclipsing the many good strangers.From Neolithic times—or even earlier—onward, wherever humans settled, sedentary people were fascinated by nomadic visitors, who, by tradition in most cultures, had to be offered hospitality. These rich exchanges were mutually beneficial when nomads and locals could spend time together.

Strangers Don’t KnockModern societies hinder the rich exchanges that the tradition of hospitality has fostered for millennia. Nowadays, travellers stay in hotels and migrants in need are taken care of by authorities or NGOs. We rarely interact with strangers, or through mediated portrayals of migration or conflict.Strangers don’t knock on our doors anymore.

Eyes Wide OpenThey now knock on the silver screen—a window onto stories of lives different from our own, like tales carried by nomads on the wind.To open up to those strangers—whether distant or next door, whether we agree with them or not, and even more so if we don’t!—all we need to do is first open our eyes wide.We’ll see how life’s randomness has made us all strangers in some way—like me, with my almost-name of Axel—without a clear sense of ownership, because we’ve all fallen into a life and place we didn’t choose.

Being PresentThis shared experience of life is like a present. Film—and photography—are arts that help me grasp this present as it offers itself to eternity.It’s all about being present, to others and to oneself. To the story captured through the camera, and the one projected onto the screen—where viewers, in turn, project themselves.It grounds us in the now.It also nurtures the sense of freedom stemming from my moments beyond the garden walls as a kid.So, as I let my camera wander, I see with wonder that the past doesn’t confine us. Starting points are just that —beginnings.

Being HereAnd I put this to you: have you ever felt like a stranger to the very tags attached to you? Where did your journey begin, and where do you let your legs take you?And at the heart of it all, once again, what are you doing here?

Notes:¹ There are more than 70 separation walls today, while there were only 6 in 1989: Wikipedia.² Science reveals how the human brain continuously reshapes its neuronal structure through experience. The richer our networks, the richer our brains—as though mirrored.³ “A person’s identity is not given once and for all; it is built up and changes throughout his or her existence.”
Amin Maalouf, In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong, 1998
“In the end, we become the autobiographical narratives by which we ‘tell about’ our lives. And to the extent that they are always incomplete—indeed, continuously revised—we are also always in the process of becoming.”
J. Bruner, Making Stories, 2003, p. 85

• BACK TO 'WHY'