Before setting out on a journey it is very important to read lots of information about your destination.

If you want to make a travelogue, good research is essential. I thought about it before going to South India. Months before leaving my wife and I searched for information in the library and on the internet.

I set myself more than one target: knowing what to expect and where we should focus our attention.

While preparing a documentary or reportage my scenario is developing. We want to make a film, but we want to find a definite issue around which a story or a documentary can be created.

Finding a theme for the film about South India was very easy. The province of Tamil Nadu has numerous historic temples around which communities came into existence. Because of the system of castes the way of life is very complex.

It didn't take long to choose a subject for this film. It became man and his religion.

We were very pleased to be invited to a wedding. For an Indian it is important that a westerner attends the ceremony because it is the omen of a rich of happy life.

Our attendance was also appreciated at other festivities. One evening we were invited to a lecture organised by a local service club (Lions). Though we didn't understand anything - only Hindu was spoken - we listened (and filmed!) carefully.

Indian people don't mind being filmed. They like to show what they are doing. They are often very proud to be on film.

In temples I always try to keep some distance and not to be intrusive.

Of course this time I was a bit pushy. I wanted to stand in the front in order to take the best pictures. I almost got under the feet of some Brahman priests a few times.

In my first years as a filmmaker I used my tripod everywhere when going on holiday. I wanted to have very steady shots. The last few years - and on this trip to South India - I left it at home. I am able to film with a steady hand. Few viewers can spot that I don't use a tripod. It has the advantage that you can anticipate very quickly when something happens unexpectedly.

People feel more relaxed when being filmed with a minimum of technical tools.

Technical issues

I use a Casablanca editing system. With this kind of computer you can only edit films. You cannot do anything else with it. It avoids crashes of editing software caused by other programs. For these I use a different computer. Of course my films need to be subtitled or completed with English commentary. My friend Willy Van der Linden, who is an anglophile and who goes to Britain very often, translates my texts and I am very grateful to him.

In Belgium this film received silver (more than 70 %) at the national competition. It was also my entry at the Guernsey Lily International Film Festival last year. It won the award for "Best travelogue".  In the AMPS Festival (American Motion Picture Society), the oldest festival for amateurs in the world, Tamil Nadu received a "Certificate of Merit".