Een avond met… lokale makers: Ton van Zantvoort

Humanity is better off than ever on almost every scale. We are healthier, older, richer, safer, and more prosperous than ever before. At the same time, the opposite is just as true: the world is in worse shape than ever. If we continue this way, parts of the earth will become uninhabitable due to heat. Climate migration will increase. Food shortages and water scarcity will impose themselves. The fact that the 26 richest people in the world have as much capital as the poorest 3.8 billion people says it all. The number of animal species has decreased by two thirds in 50 years due to, among other things, deforestation, overfishing, overconsumption and climate change. But why doesn't anything change? We are stuck in the system based on infinite growth on a dying planet. That is the paradox of our time. This puts humanity in limbo. We feel powerless, think we can't do anything anyway, and we lose hope 99% of people do nothing. What makes that 1% different? What do Nobel laureates have in common? That they persist, have something in their head that you can't get out, are stubborn. I recognize that stubbornness in myself (and in my father and my son) but also in the main characters of my films. They are like Neo who awakens from the Matrix and feels that something is not right in the world and is going to resist. They are all strong characters who, despite all external circumstances, continue to fight to achieve their dreams. Characters that the viewer can identify with. They are people who hold up a confronting mirror to our carefree life.