Michael Ney attended a Rudolf Steiner school in Sydney, and began his professional life in backstage theatre, soon specialising in lighting design and stage management. After several years working in various theatres, plus a television production course, he focused on stills photography and was a regular contributor for magazines such as Nature & Health and Simply Living. In the mid 80's, before the arrival of personal computers, he also created his own magazine, The Crystal Visionary, which also launched his networking adventures in USA.

Michael also worked in television production, and later ran his own photographic audio-visual studio, as well as photojournalism and commercial photography for corporate clients. In 2001 Michael returned to his first love – filmmaking. Over the past 3+ decades Michael has successfully produced many creative projects, including documentaries, corporate videos, websites, events, CD-ROMs and multimedia theatre.

In 2019, he released a feature length documentary about the first permaculture village in Australia, and possibly even the world... Crystal Waters Ecovillage, and later began an experimental online publishing venture called Eco Village Voice which closed in 2021.

The Beyond Being Human project first arose in 2015 after inspiration from a life changing angelic encounter which continues to guide the developments with a deeply spiritual basis. In February 2021, after a long hiatis, Michael was urged to fulfil this unusual mission. This website and the videos are all a result of this inspiration... with much more yet to come.

Michael Ney interviewed by Captain Ron (Janix)

Recorded 10 Dec 2021 – The Observation Deck

Michael Ney (director, editor, cameraman, producer) started working life first as a general stage hand, then lighting designer and later, stage manager and director's assistant in various theatres in Sydney, Australia – and then director of drama, documentary and theatre projects, as well as working on a few multimedia events.

Michael did a year long study, Television Certificate of Proficiency, which led to the "props" department working for a year on a soap opera in commercial television at TEN, Sydney, Australia.

Starting in 1982, Michael ran his own commercial photography and audio-visual production company called "Midnite Stills" where he was commissioned by magazines such as Sonics and Rolling Stone for photographic coverage of concerts and promotional material. Highlights were capturing the live shows of The Angels, Men at Work, Cold Chisel and many others, plus the occasional promotional shot.

As computers were arising in 1991 Michael gathered a team for a new venture called "Virtual Realm Xchange" with the intention to explore virtual reality and interactive multimedia. That proved to be far too ahead of its time so the focus shifted to multimedia. Major projects were completed for The University of Sydney - including documentary videos and interactive CD-ROMs with accompanying websites for numerous faculties for several years. Clients included Kaplan Professional, Westpac, The University of Sydney, Sydney City Council, BupaCare, Robert Kirby, TAFE, Youth Matters, Oracle Laser Attractions, Realview Digital, Dilanchian Lawyers, plus many others.

Finally, Michael settled down to his first love; filmmaking. Between 2001-2010 his new company, Sensory Image, produced and collaborated with writer/director, Peter Sumner on a documentary called "Baba's Birthday", about the world famous Indian spiritual leader, Meher Baba. Michael was also Director of Photography, spending 2 months shooting in rural India.

Another documentary he shot and directed in Sydney during 2011, was called "Peace Angels - first steps" about the creation of a ceremonial event by a spiritually-based theatre troupe.

Another is "Baba's Birthday" - directed by Peter Sumner and shot and produced by Michael Ney in 2006 - about Meher Baba who is revered by people worldwide as 'God in human form'. This is a rare look into the places and cultural life of one of the most enigmatic spiritual leaders who devoted His life, not to teaching, but to awakening humanity to His unifying message of Truth and Love given by the great messengers of the past.

Michael was a founding member of OZDOX - the Australian Documentary Forum and was involved in the organising committee and produced a DVD archive of 30 OZDOX events – 2003 to 2010 – www.ozdox.org

Michael has also worked on many film and television projects creating the "making-of" or behind the scenes video documentaries such as the feature film in 2016 –  Alex & Eve – directed by Peter Andrikidis (produced by Murray Fahey). He also did behind the scenes videography in a feature film called Dark Love Story (2006 producer Gregory Read), as well as a TV series called East West 101 (2009 Knapman Wyld Television), and an ambitious short film directed by David Sander called Ghosts of War (2010 Enzo Tedeschi).

Now, under the banner of Eagle Spirit Media, Michael provides video and digital media production and consultancy services. In 2020-21, he also created an online community called Eco Village Voice which published a magazine along with podcasts, webinars and videos promoting the rise of ecovillages around the world.

Beyond Being Human, however, is the biggest global project Michael has ever emabarked on.