Chipszak Boy

Een arm, dik allochtoon jongetje, 7jaar, krijgt van zijn arme ouders elke dag een zak chips mee als lunch. Zijn toekomst ziet er grijskleurig uit totdat hij op een dag een oude man ontmoet die chipszakken van de straat en vuilnisbakken plukt, en besluit deze te volgen.  

In my next short movie, called CHIPSZAK BOY, which I am writing now, and I want to film in rainy February or March, in the poor neighbourhoods of Belgium, I will tell a story about a poor, fat immigrant child who only has one chip bag for lunch and doesn't have many friends. His whole future seems full of grey clouds, until he notices an old man collecting chip bags from street and garbage bins...

In this short I want to address the problem that poor people often forget the most important case: good nutrition. I got aware of this problem, when a close friend, living in Brussels, and working with immigrants, told me about "the chipszak for lunch" phenomena in the poor streets of my capital. 

During my first travel outside Europe -when I was 18 years old- a local friend and I visited Durbuy Square in Nepal. I talked (or yes, my local friend had to translate) with street children. They told me they lived in the neighbourhood of the airport, and always came to this touristy place to find food. I gave a small girl, wearing no pants, cookies, but I wished I had brought her to a place, with healthy food. It was cheap for me to give cookies... or lazy... while I had time (and money) to invest in healthy food for these kids for maybe a whole week. These kids let a print in my head...

street children from Nepal, August 2007

I will go for cold, hard reality shots. Of course there will be a bit happiness, even if it is only hidden in the smile of a character. Happiness is everywhere. It is sometimes hard to find... even the most perfect person has dark moments. Some days ago I decided to polish the nails of my left hand dark, and keep the other blank. Someone asked me if I did this with a purpose. it is to remind me that every person has dark and good moments, and dark and good features...  It is important to be aware of both...

... not to learn more about you, but also to understand that every person you'll meet is fighting his own battle, has his good and dark days... and that one moment, one story... shouldn't be his or her only impression in your life... I try this, and I hope some people on the other side of the line will tolerate my dark days, and not only want to see my light moments and smile. 

I only show my dark nails to people I really trust...  but that is another story.

I like of course my blank, white nails more... and with this hand I will write the script. 

The Chipsbag also will be a dark symbol for malnutrition of body and soul... but also will have a good side... in the story. Stay tuned ;)