Martin Strel is BIG RIVER MAN. A man who campaigns for a cleaner environment by swimming the lengths of some of the world’s largest and most polluted rivers such as the Mississippi, the Yangtze and the Amazon. His unbelievable swim across the Amazon is captured in the 2009 Sundance Award winning film available to own on DVD from 18th January 2010.

Overweight, over 50 years old and an alcoholic, Martin Strel made it to the Guinness Book of Records swimming the length of the Amazon River, while avoiding the ever present dangers of piranhas, snakes, crocodiles and sharks. The ultimate lads hero, Strel shows what can be achieved when chasing your dream, fuelled by passion, determination and, plenty of wine!

Strel proves that you do not need have to be young and slim to be an endurance swimmer and break Guinness World Records. BIG RIVER MAN tells the phenomenal story of how one man defies convention by swimming over 5,430 km of the Amazon River, to highlight pollution in the world.

 Director John Maringouin set out to make an environmentally aware documentary about this eccentric, larger than life Slovenian swimmer. As a result, he endured a journey deep into the oppressively remote Amazonia, following Martin and his team as they descended into a nightmare of illness and insanity.