THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSCLE
Martin Mareček
VERNES (Czech Republic)
A film about a man who wanted to become Superman and instead became a genderman.
A film about a person’s attempt at self-change, a creature who has subjected himself to systematic fitness training and substance use, but above all a highly contemporary and provocative testimony of the crisis of male identity at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Martin Mareček / IMDb
MARTIN MAREČEK is one of the most remarkable Czech filmmakers of the new generation. His films regularly collect awards and accolades on international film festivals. After studying at the Department of Culture Studies at Charles University in Prague, he graduated from the Department of Documentary Film at FAMU where he has also been lecturing since 2003. Mareček is best known for his feature documentaries, e.g. DUST GAMES / HRY PRACHU, SOURE / ZDROJ, AUTO*MATE/ AUTO*MAT. SOLAR ECLIPSE/ POD SLUNCEM TMA, a film about two Czech aid workers in Zambia was named Best Czech Documentary Film.
Director’s statement
Why did I want to do this film? We are living in a time when society is taking a completely new approach to what it means to be a man or a woman. Our protagonist is a public figure. He is a public intellectual, a well-known film critic with a large following. And he is a committed feminist. On the other hand, he is a bodybuilder. He takes pride in the masculine body and does not hesitate to use anabolic steroids to exaggerate it. At first, the film was intended to be a documentary about this change, like Super Size Me, but over the years it became a documentary about an inner transformation, and broadly about the transformation of gender roles in our society.
Where are we at?
Total Budget: 160.000,00 EUR
Financing in place: 140.000,00 EUR
Sales Agent: none
Territories available: All except Europe
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Production Company profile
The company VERNES is oriented towards documentaries and feature films with potential appeal to an international audience. Their films have included a portrait of a non-criminal paedophile (Daniel’s World, Panorama, Berlinale 2015) and a scientific documentary about the genetic testing of parenthood (Whose is My Child, winner of two Czech awards at AFO 2014). The company most recently produced six-part docu-reality from Covid-19 hospitals Hospital on the Frontline.