SATURDAY 26 |Once upon a time, or 2001 to be exact, the Dutchman behind The Flicks Community Movie Houses in Phnom Penh wasn’t known as the godfather of couch surfing. Global media had yet to brand him ‘The world’s biggest freeloader’ (he still prefers ‘economic refugee’) and the concept of social networking hadn’t even been invented. Ramon Stoppelenburg, then a journalism student in his mid-20s, wanted to travel the world. There was only one catch: his wallet was so empty it echoed. Enter the blossoming technology we now know as The Almighty Internet. Letmestayforaday.com was Ramon’s domain. His mission: to boldly go where no man (or woman) had gone before and traverse the globe for free, simply by hopping – based on invitations he received online – from sofa to sofa. By December 2001, the Guardian and Sunday Times newspapers in the UK had declared him Internet Personality of the Year. Two years and 10,000 new friends later, Ramon – who features in the documentary One Couch At A Time – had become the poster boy for what academics and lefties now loftily refer to as the ‘sharing economy’.
WHO: Couch surfers and other open-minded hipster types
WHAT: One Couch At A Time screeningWHERE: Flicks2, Street 136
WHEN: 2pm April 26
WHY: The new ‘age of sharing’ examined