Fedor Ikelaar

At the age of 27 Fedor Abandond a succesfull IT carreer to study anthropology at the VU University in Amsterdam. Anthropology bevame the ideal field to explore not only his interest in culture, development and conflict, but also to combine these with his passion for filmmaking. Though his own university has no visual ethnography in its program, he spent a lot of time exploring this field on his own or with some likeminded students. With these students he also started to make short ethnographic documentaries and a full length ethnographic production titled “”The Challenge.”” This experience led up to “”What Keeps Them Going””, his first solo production. He recently graduated and has taken on a research postion at the municipality of Amsterdam, he does not intend to abandon documentary filmmaking as he intends to create films on the side to continue developing both his skills and style.