An inspiring story about the culture of running
Today, few people remember that only 50 years ago ordinary runners had to be rebels. There was no place in this sport for women or amateurs. The situation changed in the 1960s, during the rise of the liberation movement. The film tells the story of running as a cultural (and even countercultural phenomenon), from romantic acts of defiance to the development of a huge industry.
The main characters in the film are legends of the running movement. Kathrine Switzer is the first woman to have officially run a marathon. In 1967, she fought off the manager of the Boston Marathon, who tried to physically push her off the course. The photo of this episode made the covers of international newspapers, and Switzer later became the face of the first marathon for women and the commentator of the first women’s race at the Olympic Games in 1984. Fred Lebow was the founder of the New York City Marathon, which grew out of a tiny association of amateur runners who at the time could not even imagine that they would one day occupy Central Park. At 62, already knowing he had brain cancer, he ran the marathon as a symbolic gesture, to show himself and his friends that he was alive. Steve Prefontaine from Oregon was a record holder and a fighter for the right of all talented «amateurs» to have a professional career. Hollywood has already made two movies about him. This film is an ode to running as a manifestation of the will to live and a way of coming together with nature, and to marathons as moments of glory for everyone.
The film will be screened in English and French with Russian subtitles.
Free to Run
Director: Pierre Morath
Switzerland, France, Belgium, 2015. 90 min. 18+
