In the High Country

The Runners(en)

As we run, the layers of responsibility and identity we have gathered in our lives, the father, mother, lawyer, teacher, Manchester United-supporter labels, all fall away, leaving us with the raw human being underneath. With nothing but our own two legs moving us, we begin to get a vague, tingling sense of who, or what, we really are.

Brian Reynolds: The Leadville Trail 100(en)

Brian Reynolds, a double amputee below the knee athlete, has triumphed over numerous challenges throughout his life. Growing up without a role model to guide him, he has embarked on a mission to empower para athletes by demonstrating that nothing is beyond reach. Join us in this documentary as we follow Brian's journey to make history by becoming the first double amputee to conquer the legendary Leadville 100 Ultra Trail Marathon in Colorado.

Marathon(en)

Started as a class project in what was likely the first filmmaking course ever taught at Harvard, Marathon documents the running of the 1964 Boston Marathon.

Breaking 7(cn)

In 2011, Alison Chow participated in the 38th Berlin Marathon. She finished the marathon in 2 hours 49 minutes and 57 seconds, 7 minutes slower than the Olympics entry requirement, thus the name of this documentary, Breaking 7. Alison gave up on her stable teaching job and left her comfort zone at the age of almost 30 just to follow her dream. She went through countless challenges with her coach, good friends and family, and was further inspired in life.

Breaking2(en)

After six months of scientifically advanced training, three of the world's most elite distance runners set out to break the two-hour marathon barrier. These pioneers go on a global trek to defy the unthinkable and break the two-hour feat, from testing in wind tunnels and running labs in the United States, to balancing training with their day-to- day lives in eastern Africa, to the final heart-pounding race in Italy.

100 Seconds to Beat the World(en)

The story of Kenyan athlete David Rudisha, the greatest 800m runner the world has ever seen, and his unusual coach, the Irish Catholic missionary Brother Colm O'Connell.

La Grande Traversée(fr)

Kenya’s marathon stars in Europe(en)

For African athletes making money abroad is the big goal. But Kenyan marathon runners need to be careful – the industry is ruthless and only few make it. For years, sports managers have been bringing African athletes to Europe to run in marathons with promises of potential prize money and a top career. For many it’s a means of escaping poverty. But what price do the marathon runners themselves pay? Long-distance running is among the toughest disciplines in the world. Professional marathon runners battle over seconds in a race more than 40km long - seconds that are often worth huge sums of money. Running has become a business. The prize money for a major event can be in five figures. Participants have to be world-class athletes to win these amounts.

Goshen(en)

Goshen is a documentary depicting the diet and active lifestyle of the indigenous Tarahumara, a light-footed running tribe, who are striving to maintain their ancient culture against all odds. The Tarahumara are renowned for their incredible long distance running endurance and prevention of modern chronic diseases. Featuring the Born to Run author Chris McDougall and health specialists.

Running Away to Flagstaff(en)

A Documentary about how Flagstaff became a Running Mecca and a look inside the Flagstaff's running scene during the Olympic Year.

The Run(en)

The Run is a feature length documentary film which follows Australian Pat Farmer’s test of human spirit and behind the scenes drama as he runs the length of India – 80 kilometres a day for 64 days with the backdrop of colourful, enchanting, challenging, organized chaos of India, which will saturate your senses.

Kilian Jornet, Path to Everest(en)

Surrounded by the mountains and people who are his inspiration, in ‘Path to Everest’, the mountain athlete Kilian Jornet reveals his most intimate fears, contradictions and passions. Summits of My Life is the personal project of Kilian Jornet, in which for five years he has traveled to some of the most important peaks of the planet to try to establish FKT (fastest known time) of ascent and descent of some of the most emblematic mountains of the world. The project is closely linked to values and a way of understanding the purist and minimalist mountain. The experiences lived in each challenge have been captured in different films.

How to Become a Hero(sr)

Mladen Maticevic is a 40 year old Serbian film director. In the summer of 2005, he decided to try and run the full marathon race on the next Belgrade Marathon, in the spring of 2006. This film depicts his struggle to train, lose weight, learn the tactics and eventually win the race. His family doubts that such feat is possible while friends both encourage him and discourage him to pull it off. Suddenly the whole marathon run becomes a metaphor for everyday struggles in post-Communist Belgrade.

The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young(en)

In its first 25 years only 10 people have finished The Barkley Marathons. Based on a historic prison escape, this cult like race tempts people from around the world to test their limits of physical and mental endurance in this documentary that contemplates the value of pain.

Run Free: The True Story of Caballo Blanco(en)

American ultra running legend Micah True (Caballo Blanco, or the White Horse) lived and ran with the Tarahumara Indians in Northern Mexico. The Tarahumara (also known as the Rarámuri or the Running People) are some of the best long distance runners in the world. This award-winning feature-length documentary chronicles Micah's quest to promote and preserve Tarahumara running tradition by creating a 50-mile foot race known as the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon, which was portrayed in Christopher McDougall’s best-selling book "Born to Run – A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen".

Once is Enough(en)

After losing his mother to obesity, a thirty-two year old chubby ginger comedian and vegan son-of-a-pig-farmer sets out to avoid the same fate by running one hundred miles through the mountains of Colorado in one of the world's most difficult ultra trail marathons...and lives to tell jokes about it.

Indulgence: 1000 Miles Under the Colorado Sky(en)

Indulgence: 1000 Miles Under the Colorado Sky features ultra-marathon phenom Anton Krupicka in a high-definition running film inspired by mountain ski and bike films. The film will offer the viewer a first-hand look at Anton’s life as he trains in the mountains of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California during the summer of 2007. The film’s presentation will reflect Anton’s simple approach to life and running and his continued pursuit of this minimalist ideal amidst the expectations of modern society.

Un pas après l'autre(fr)

Walmsley the Film(en)

WALMSLEY is a feature-length documentary that follows Jim Walmsley’s journey from the depths of a US Air Force Missile Silo to becoming the first American man to win UTMB by running 100 miles faster than anyone else in the world.

Unbreakable: The Western States 100(en)

In 2010, four of the greatest undefeated mountain runners on earth toed the starting line at the Western States 100-mile endurance run, the oldest and most prestigious 100-mile foot race in the world. 'Unbreakable: The Western States 100' follows the four lead men on this amazing journey. Hal Koerner, two time defending Western States champion, and running store entrepreneur from Ashland, Oregon. Geoff Roes, undefeated at the 100-mile distance, an organic chef from Juneau, Alaska. Anton Krupicka, undefeated in every ultramarathon he has ever started, a graduate student living in Boulder, Colorado. Kilian Jornet, the young mountain runner and two time Ultra-trail du Mont-Blanc champion, from Spain.