Martin Sommerdag is a film director from Copenhagen, Denmark. In this interview he talks about the mystery behind “Ebola Warning,” a classified film reel which was left to him by his father.
First of all, give us a few details about your father and his work?
He was born in 1939 and as far as I know my father was a biosafety level 4 chief virologist and a category C (UN 2814) agent at the CDC in Denmark. He worked long hours and traveled the globe because of his knowledge and research in biological hazards. He would always wear a suit and a black attaché briefcase, when he left for work. He also had a home office, with a safe that required a key and a digital code.
In 1997 your father went missing. Do you think his disappearance was work-related?
Yes! On September 14th, 1997 my father traveled abroad for a work-related meeting at the Kresge Building, Longwood Campus of Harvard University, Boston, MA. He called and left a message on our answering machine, saying he arrived at the Kresge Building at Harvard University. The police investigation is pointing towards a drowning accident in Charles River, which is a 80 mile long river that snakes through eastern Massachusetts, before it joins the Massachusetts Bay in Boston. Several educational institutions are located by the river, including Harvard University. A science student at Harvard University, who wishes to remain anonymous found my father’s black attaché briefcase which was washed ashore. My father was declared dead, but his corpse has never been found.
How did you find the reel of the “Ebola Warning” movie?
I inherited the key and the digital code [581321] to his safe in his home office in Denmark. In the safe I found various classified documents together with the old super 8MM film reel. It took me nearly 11 years to decide that I would digitize the classified reel and upload it to the public – in the hope of answers.
Many people might think this is a hoax. How can you defend the authenticity of this movie?
I can’t and there are always people, who doubt the truth and especially in the present because of the increasing number of mocumentary movies from Hollywood. I think it’s healthy to doubt the contents on the net these days and I didn’t digitize the classified film to uncover a conspiracy or to make a viral movie. I digitized the old footage, like I mentioned before in the hope of answers to my fathers death or mysterious disappearance.
So, what have you done with the movie?
When I digitized the footage in 2008 it was meant only for the social media, but it turn out to be an interesting new voice story and “Ebola Warning” was screen at both New York Film Festival and Los Angeles Film Festival in 2008. When I was presenting the film in New York I was approached by an old gentleman, who wasn’t interested in the film but in my father – he claimed to have met him at the the Kresge Building, Longwood Campus of Harvard University, Boston, MA in September 1997. We agreed to meet the next morning at a café, but he never showed up.
Is anybody listening to this?
There have been many views and different messages regarding the footage over the years, but because of the Ebola outbreak in Africa these days there has been extra attention towards the footage.
Now that the movie is in the public’s eyes, what’s your next step?
Ebola Warning has been out since 2008. I am Danish film director at Alpha Hawk Films in Denmark, who has directed a lot of art films, short films and commercials. I also made it my niche to buy and digitize old videotapes and film reels on various flea markets around the world – you never know the stories they contain. Let me take this opportunity to announce my next feature film called “The Creator,” which start shooting next year. But who knows maybe one day, when I have more answers – I will write and direct a feature film about my father’s mysterious disappearance and his classified film reel “Ebola Warning.”
