Sebastian strycharski
visual storyteller
Welcome!
My Name Is Sebastian.
I'm a Visual Storyteller
and here's why.
I was born in Poland, studied politics, communication & economics in Belgium, Germany and Holland, traveled to over forty countries, rowed in the Belgian national team, played in a Russian theatre company, worked as a guide in the Arctic, a travel journalist in South America & an integration teacher and a mental health worker in Brussels.
Along the way, I listened to outstanding storytellers, learned eight languages, read some good poetry and figured out my life was brimming with stories worth sharing.
Eventually, grabbing a camera seemed like a smart way to give meaning to things that have been happening in my life. It’s also the best idea I could come up with to keep doing what I enjoy most: connect with people, learn and share.
Enjoy your visit! Seba
Curiosity, fellow humans, books, online classes and learning by trial and error have been helping me to grasp the art and the craft of visual storytelling. They still do.
Below you will find stories of people I filmed somewhere between the Arctic and the tropics. Short texts are there to add context.
I made these videos as a one-man crew taking care of scripting, filming, sound recording, lighting and editing.
Adopted by
a Fight Club
Adopted by
a Fight Club
A group of young passers-by set eyes on my camera as I was preparing to shoot an interview in Molenbeek. They ran up to me asking with enthusiasm if “I could do a video job for them in Asia starting next week”.
The spontaneity of the question seemed crazy. What followed was even more so. Eight days later I landed in Thailand in company of twenty Brussels Muay Thai fighters. I spent three weeks filming their trainings, fighting galas and other – less painful – endeavours around the country.
The unlikely encounter resulted in these four videos commissioned by OmarGym and their association Emancipower.
From the start I was overwhelmed by the smell of the floors soaked with sweat and the sounds of enraged shouts resonating in the gyms.
The screams accompanying the punching and the kicking turned out to be helpful in pacing my filming and editing though. Eventually, I also got used to the smell.
What struck me most in the first days was the fighters’ determination to give it all during every single training, the kindness of our hosts, the madness of the betting crowds during the fights in the Max Muay Thai Stadion in Pattaya and, obviously, the sun-lit entertainment.
We arrived on the island of Koh-Samui just before the Thai New Year. According to tradition, locals and visitors welcome the new year with water, the symbol of purity.
Water was to become the symbol of our whole trip. It offered relief during exhausting trainings and fights and represented the best entertainment in hilltop pools and on tropical beaches.
Entertainment never happened without the anticipation of upcoming fights though. Tension was building up incessantly, climaxing in electrifying warmups before the kick-off of fighting events.
Our stay in Thailand culminated in a boxing gala in Koh-Samui. Eight Brussels fighters clashed with their Thai counterparts.
Most of Belgian boxers won their fights and went on a well-earned trip to a postcard island.
I also came up with a little bonus event at the end of the trip. A friend of mine was a vice-consul in the Belgian embassy in Bangkok at the time of our visit. That’s why we could arrange for an honorary reception in the embassy and a meeting with the consul who turned out to be a Muay Thai enthusiast.
Masir
Avenir
Masir
Avenir
Masir Avenir is an integration project for young fellows from around the world who just arrived in Brussels and Flanders.
The participants get a taste of Belgium’s culture, history and society while learning Dutch and having fun.
This video was commissioned by the Flemish government’s Agency for integration (Agentschap Integratie & Inburgering).
Masir means “future” in Persian.
METRO
TRAVEL
STORIES
METRO
TRAVEL
STORIES
In the summer of 2016 I moved from Brussels to Rio de Janeiro.
After working for almost a year in Rio as a tourist guide, a photographer and a French and Dutch language teacher, I pitched a travel journalism project to Metro, Belgium’s most read newspaper.
Camila – my partner – and I would cross South America, make videos and write articles based on requests and questions we’d be getting from Metro readers, becoming their eyes and ears in South America.
Metro liked the idea, they found a sponsor – Joker, Belgium’s leading alternative travel agency – and in May 2017 we hit the road.
The project Metro Travel Stories involved a 3-month overland journey from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to Lima (Peru) across Bolivia, Argentina and Chile.
We produced a dozen videos and twenty one articles which were published weekly in print and online in Dutch & French.
We met beautiful people, hitchhiked through awe-inspiring landscapes and learnt every day more about the places we visited and also ourselves.
Filming and writing is, however, the area where we learnt most. Brainstorming on the content of videos and articles, preparing interviews, writing articles, filming, sound and video editing – these were the precious things we were learning on the go as we were travelling between the oceans.
This was my first paid job as a video maker and I couldn’t have wished for a more exciting debut.
Camila and me introducing the MTS team and the city
where it all began.
Ayacucho is the most exciting South American city you’ve never heard about. It’s also the place of kick-ass community projects, some of which are supported by our project partner, the travel agency Joker.
LOFOTEN
LOFOTEN
There is an archipelago in Norway just above the Arctic circle that looks like a paradise on Earth. It’s called Lofoten. During two summers I had a privilege to guide tourists around these ecstatic islands. I returned to Lofoten the last two summers to enjoy the midnight sun with my Viking friends. Anders is one of them. He is the oldest glassblower in Northern Norway and his craft he does know.
MADE
IN BXL
MADE IN BXL
Brussels, one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities, is also a vibrant meeting place for people who make up its diversity. I had a pleasure to film some of these beautifully colourful encounters organised by the city’s cultural NGO’s.
Rio
Carnival
Rio
Carnival
Carnival is a national holiday in Brazil. For almost a week, Brazilians take it to the streets to gleefully move their bodies to feverish sambas played by their favourite blocos da rua. And no one else doest it better than the cariocas, i.e. Rio residents.
Try
Outs
Try-Outs
The moment I bought my very first camera (the Canon 60D), I decided to learn how to use it while hitchhiking from Brussels to Iran. I hardly read the camera’s manual but I feel that the encounters I made in Persia made up for it. The second video is an improvised walk through a Rio residence that breathes faded glory.