Anil van der Zee

Anil van der Zee was born in Sri Lan­ka and grew up in the Nether­lands. He stud­ied clas­si­cal bal­let and pur­sued a career as a pro­fes­sion­al bal­let dancer with var­i­ous com­pa­nies in the Nether­lands and Switzer­land. In 2007, his career end­ed due to a viral infec­tion from which he nev­er ful­ly recov­ered. He was lat­er diag­nosed with ME/CFS. He now lives in a dark­ened home and avoids any phys­i­cal or men­tal overex­er­tion that wors­ens his symp­toms. A stark con­trast to his pre­vi­ous active and dynam­ic life as a dancer.

Since 2013, Anil van der Zee has lived almost com­plete­ly iso­lat­ed from the phys­i­cal world. One vis­i­tor per year is not uncom­mon. He’s feel­ing a lit­tle bet­ter now, thanks to a more qui­et and suit­able hous­ing after an ill fit­ting one, so he’s able to cre­ate some art again. Because of many ques­tions about his liv­ing sit­u­a­tion and his every­day life, he decid­ed film his life with ME/CFS. In his film “The days with M.E.” he shows a step-by-step guide through his day.

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