The Burden

My notion of what it is to be a man is inspired, as it is for many, by my paternal reference. My father’s character shaped my conception of masculinity and crystallized into the man I am today. It has taken me many years to assume a certain emotional self-censorship for fear of being identified with attributes such as weak or fragile that do not “correspond” to the values of masculinity.

Over the years I have come across more heterosexual men like me, who do not agree with the predominant male role either. Men with whom to share conflicts, contradictions and empathize, despite the differences; not only from reason, but connected to emotions.

Fatherhood has been an opportunity to rethink myself as a man, my role, my sensitivity and the values I transmit to my daughter.

A few years ago I met Rai Crespí, an anthropologist and therapist who works on the issue of masculinity in workshops where he accompanies other men to stop, listen to themselves and initiate processes of self-knowledge. I was interested in the cathartic and cinematic nature of the experience, but also that his work was born from his own personal crisis, from his search. I proposed to him to make a documentary that would make visible those other men who are looking for other ways of being. Rai set me a condition: that I participate beforehand and without cameras in one of the workshops he conducts every year. I attended the next one. The visual texture of the spaces, the dedication of the participants and the emotion of the processes that took place there left me in no doubt: in those three days the dramaturgical ingredients for a powerful documentary feature film were concentrated.

“The Burden” is a film where we recognize ourselves as conflictive, contradictory and wounded beings. I speak consciously in masculine, because it is men who are most concerned, but I am convinced that the film will arouse great interest among female audiences.