What are we doing here?

In Vilnius and elsewhere, when people ask me what I'm doing here, I reply: “Asking people what they’re doing here.”

Many of us are wondering the same. I’ve often felt like a stranger and recently discovered that being one can be freeing. Speaking with other strangers makes us feel good. You’d be surprised by how generously many passersby share parts of their lives. It also reminds us that we are all the same in being unique—and in being strangers.

This is the spirit behind Strangers.Now, a series of short films, each around three minutes long, brought to you here in this ad-free space.

Please, try to watch the series on a large screen, without distractions. Though short, these are real films — where pace, silences, tone of voice, gaze… all contribute to the emotion. Only three minutes in your day, and a true connection with a stranger.

Also, if you watch on a computer (and only there), the YouTube versions allow for automatic subtitle translation into your preferred language.

Info and links

More info and links about the project and people involved can be found:
- in the first post
- and under each film.

Connect further!

(Help this project reach beyond its little island on the web.)
➤ Strangers.Now is all about connections. If you think Strangers.Now is worthy of attention, kindly share, like and engage widely! ONLY YOUR sharing—and that of your friends—will bring them to life. They need your creative involvement—preferably in person: word of mouth is the best way to support an entirely self-funded project—especially when social media and the web are saturated with attention grabbers.

Films and texts © Eric Vander Borght – www.ericvan.com – linktr.ee/vanderbo

Would you like to reach out?

I’d love to hear from you.
And I’m available for film and photography projects.

➤ Please note: while Substack may offer an audio feed, Strangers.Now films are meant to be watched, not just listened to.

Words from the Audience

A big bravo, it’s really good, to manage to capture these thoughts from strangers (random encounters?), about their lives like that in just a few minutes—it’s really great, it warms the heart, thank you!! And it’s very well filmed too. (…) It reminds me of Le Joli mai ou Chronique d'un été.
Clara

I’m in awe. How, how, how do you, Eric, how do you reach into such openness with strangers? How do you build trust in such a brief time? Tell me your secret?
Janine

Your Strangers series is very impressive - everything is well done: the texts, the duration, and the camera work. And the people are very interesting! I think this is just the beginning? Because you need to continue this very good work.
Liudas

Incredible. It’s really outstanding. I wonder how you manage to get them to open up like that—how they’re able to express, in just a few words, things that are so powerful, profound, moving. (…) It’s astonishing. (…) This deserves to be seen by as many people as possible. And I hope you’ll make more. It restores my faith in humanity.
Terry

(…) It sends us back to an identity and, by extension, of course, it speaks to our own. Not from a narcissistic point of view, but on the level of our human condition. (…) No noise, no spectacle—just being and existing. (…) In short, it’s great—subtle and strong at once, intense and important…
Pierre

.

.

.

.

.

.