Glowing

synopsis

If only one could have the perfect relationship, thousands of likes on Instagram, a successful career and, ideally, fairer skin. Young men and women from different social backgrounds, living in Seoul, New Delhi and Nairobi, are united by the same goal: they all want to “shine”. Martin Páv’s visually dazzling documentary deconstructs the phenomenon of physical attractiveness as a norm of global capitalism. The film offers a glimpse into the private lives of people caught in the web of social expectations and the pressure to be perfect. Behind their obsession with their own appearance, however, lies a deeper identity crisis and a search for an answer to the question of whether there is still any room for us to be ourselves in today’s interconnected world.

“When they make cosmetic commercials in Vietnam, they say: You can be as light-skinned as the Koreans.”

biography

Martin Páv (1992) is a Czech documentary filmmaker and FAMU graduate who gained recognition for his feature-length films focusing on serious social and environmental issues and the connections between different cultures, as well as between humans and nature (Vote for Kibera, Wolves on the Borders).

film details

director:	Martin Páv
producer:	Zuzana Kučerová
script:	Martin Páv
photography:	Martin Páv, Tei Lee
editing:	Hedvika Hansalová
music:	Jiří Trtík
sound:	Adam Bláha

contact

Zuzana Kučerová / Frame Films
zuzana@framefilms.cz