For nearly three decades, writer-director Martin Kunert and writer-producer Eric Manes have combined major-studio screenwriting discipline with pioneering production technologies—inventing new formats across landmark television, theatrical documentary, and widescreen historical epics.
Born in the small Polish town of Płońsk, David Ben-Gurion achieved what modern history deemed impossible: re-establishing a sovereign nation that had not existed for 2,000 years. Grounded in historical speeches, private diaries, archival photographs, original film footage, and primary-source records, I BEN-GURION plunges audiences directly into the personal and geopolitical crucible of 1948.
I BEN-GURION is a fusion of authentic archival photographs and film footage with AI-generated scenes of intimate events that no camera ever recorded. The archival images anchor the film in the reality of history; the cinematic reconstructions bring private conversations, relationships, and human moments beyond the reach of photographers and newsreels vividly to life. Crafted in the visual language of 1960s cinema, these scenes complement rather than replace the historical record—allowing audiences to experience both the documented past and the personal story behind it.
History fails to resonate when delivered as a dry lecture. Kunert and Manes forged their careers inside the major Hollywood studio system—mastering visceral pacing, high-concept tension, and emotional immersion across box-office thrillers and genre-defining television. Whenever conventional production methods or prohibitive studio budgets stood in the way of raw intimacy or historical scale, they engineered proprietary production technologies to put theatrical-grade cinema on screen at a fraction of traditional physical costs.
To capture authentic psychological terror without a film crew in the room, Kunert and Manes engineered custom wearable participant camera rigs ("Clam Cams") and wired condemned locations with 10,000 feet of cable—inventing the global paranormal reality television genre.
Using the participant-filmed blueprint pioneered on FEAR to bypass embedded wartime journalism, they shipped 150 DV cameras directly into Iraq for civilians to film their own lives—creating what film historians recognize as the first "documentary swarm" theatrical feature.
To dramatize unfilmed moments from 1948 without compromising historical truth, Kunert and Manes engineered a proprietary generative AI cinema pipeline calibrated to 1960s 65mm spherical optics and Eastman Kodak 5250 film stock—seamlessly uniting verbatim primary-source archives and original newsreels with widescreen historical reconstructions. This proprietary system delivers major-studio period scale at a fraction of traditional physical production budgets, enabling non-profit foundations and independent financiers to mount theatrical historical epics previously restricted to major studios.
Alongside I BEN-GURION, Kunert/Manes is actively developing its next slate of widescreen historical epics and theatrical documentaries—deploying its proprietary production pipeline in partnership with major studios, cultural institutions, non-profit foundations (including the Voices Of Foundation), and private financiers to bring defining chapters of world history to global audiences with unprecedented production efficiency.
Directed and produced by distributing 150 digital video cameras across Iraq so Iraqi citizens could document their own reality in the midst of war, the groundbreaking feature-length documentary VOICES OF IRAQ was released theatrically in the US and internationally by Magnolia Pictures, screening at major international festivals to widespread critical acclaim.
“If this film cannot claim to represent the political truth about the war – what film could?” — The New York Times
“An authentic work that dares to let the subject speak for itself.” — The Wall Street JournalWATCH TRAILER ▶
Directed and produced for two-time Oscar-winning Moriah Films (now Moriah Media) and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, WOMEN OF IRAN chronicled Iranian women challenging state oppression—going viral across international platforms and earning an official invitation to screen at the United Nations.
WATCH FILM ▶
Created, directed, and executive produced for MTV, FEAR pioneered the supernatural reality genre of television. The ratings hit spun off television specials and an original young-adult book series, inspired movies and TV shows for over two decades, and sparked a modern TikTok movement of influencers filming first-person paranormal explorations.
“MTV's Fear portrayed genuine terror on television and helped give rise to a legion of ghost-hunting series that are now some of the most popular reality shows on television.” — LooperWATCH PILOT EPISODE ▶
Produced for Warner Bros. and Morgan Creek Productions, 3000 MILES TO GRACELAND is a kinetic, action-packed dark comedy heist feature starring Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell, Courteney Cox, and Christian Slater, filmed on location in Las Vegas and Canada.
WATCH TRAILER ▶Additional network television pilot creation, writing, and executive producing deals—including the filmed CBS action pilot HRT (executive produced with Oscar winner Mark Johnson)—across CBS, ABC, NBC, Sony Pictures Television, and USA Network.
Additional network television pilot creation, writing, and executive producing deals—including the filmed CBS action pilot HRT (executive produced with Oscar winner Mark Johnson)—across CBS, ABC, NBC, Sony Pictures Television, and USA Network.
Martin Kunert is a feature film director, screenwriter, and visual innovator whose work spans major-studio features, theatrical documentaries, landmark television formats, and hybrid AI historical cinema. He directed and co-wrote the feature docudrama I BEN-GURION in association with Moriah Media; directed documentary films for two-time Academy Award-winning Moriah Films and the Simon Wiesenthal Center (including WOMEN OF IRAN, screened at the United Nations, CHILDREN OF SELVINO, and SINATRA); directed the critically acclaimed Magnolia Pictures wartime documentary VOICES OF IRAQ; directed and wrote New Line Cinema's enduring cult feature CAMPFIRE TALES; and co-created and directed MTV's genre-defining series FEAR. Consistently at the forefront of production technology, his work was selected by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) to showcase cutting-edge visual direction (ALL I EVER WANTED), featured by Panasonic at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention (WATERSIGNS), and commissioned by Panasonic and DirecTV to pioneer stereoscopic 3D narrative filmmaking.
A member of both the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), Martin is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Across his screenwriting and television career, he has written major-studio feature films and adventure franchises for Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and Universal Studios, and created and executive produced network television pilots for CBS and ABC. Dividing his time between Paris, Los Angeles, and Warsaw, he is also an accomplished medium-format analog fine-art and fashion photographer whose prints have been exhibited in New York galleries, and he serves as Director of the Institut International Dziewanowski pour Chopin in Paris.
VIEW FINE-ART PHOTOGRAPHY (@MARTINKUNERT) ↗Eric Manes is a Los Angeles-based feature film and television writer, producer, and media innovator. He produced and co-wrote the feature docudrama I BEN-GURION in association with Moriah Media; co-created and executive produced MTV's landmark supernatural series FEAR; produced the Warner Bros. action feature 3000 MILES TO GRACELAND starring Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell; and produced the theatrical documentary VOICES OF IRAQ, funneling digital video cameras directly to hundreds of Iraqis in the midst of war to capture unprecedented intimacy and first-person truth.
A graduate of New York University, Eric held a multi-year studio overall deal at Universal Pictures, wrote action and adventure features for Walt Disney Pictures (including two US-China co-production franchises with The Shanghai Media Group), Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, and Universal Studios, and created and executive produced television pilots for CBS, NBC, ABC, Sony Pictures Television, and USA Network. Most recently, alongside producing and co-writing I BEN-GURION, Eric produced documentary films for two-time Oscar-winning Moriah Films (now Moriah Media) and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, including WOMEN OF IRAN, selected to screen at the United Nations, CHILDREN OF SELVINO, and SINATRA.
