In the High Country

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.

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.

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.

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.

"Finding Traction" presents the inspirational story of ultra runner Nikki Kimball and her quest to become the fastest person in history to run America's oldest hiking trail, the 273-mile Long Trail. The documentary asks what drives her to attempt such an incredible feat, and follows Nikki's journey from its beginning - training and racing in the Rocky mountains - to her actual record attempt through Vermont's beautiful but brutal Green Mountains.

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".

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.

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.

Thai singer Artiwara Kongmalai organises a 2215 kilometre marathon to raise money for much-needed hospital equipment, an event which takes 55 days.

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.

Eddie Izzard pushes her body and sense of humour to the limit for Sport Relief as she takes on an immense challenge - travelling to South Africa to run 27 marathons in 27 days to mark the 27 years that their hero Nelson Mandela spent in prison. It is a gruelling, uplifting and hilarious journey through baking heat, high roads and hospitals - but can Eddie make it to the final finish line?

Ultrarunners overcome every kind of hardship. During her first run of the season, Mirna Valerio has to silence those who think she's not fit for this sport.

1 day. 100 miles. The idea sounds impossible to most of us, but that's the challenge Ashley Lindsey faces in 'Solstice,' which documents her attempt to finish the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. The world's oldest and most prestigious 100 mile trail race, Western States runners travel from Squaw Valley to Auburn, battling bitter cold, stifling heat, and their own mental and physical limitations along the way. From mountain peaks to river canyons, runners climb over 18,000 vertical feet and descend nearly 23,000 feet on this ultimate challenge for long distance runners. 'Solstice' is the story of a rookie attempting to run 100 miles for the first time, and to prove that 'impossible' is just a word.

On | Solace – Running the Alps in 30 days – Karel Sabbe's Via Alpina FKT In the summer of 2021, ultrarunner Karel Sabbe ran the Via Alpina trail in just 30 days. Averaging two marathons on a daily basis, he navigated the route 14 days faster than anybody else. As well as the Alps, Karel overcame sleep deprivation, illness and extreme weather. And he did it all with a camera crew in tow, documenting every step.

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.

History wonks and running buffs will vie for who loves this movie the most. "Everest on the Track" is as much an historical study of Britain's psychological, if not almost physical, need for something - anything - to erase the woes of World War II as it is a fresh look at the quest for the first sub-4:00 mile, the heretofore deemed physically impossible. Before the war, Britain had bloomed best in its Sporting Tradition, but the amateur accolades leading to Olympic accomplishments were blown off the podiums in the 1952 Helsinki Games. Roger Bannister was the epitome of that disappearing scholar-athlete ideal. Can the lunchtime-trained runner immersed in his medical school studies inject the booster shot into Britain's flagging but still flickering morale?

We're proud and excited to present the Official Selection for the Trail Running Film Festival 2023 Global Tour. We're honored to bring these amazing stories by wonderfully talented filmmakers to theaters, trail races, running stores and community centers around the globe. FROM THE SHADOW OF A MOUNTAIN - Alex Massey, SOLO - Ellie Green CHASING CRAZY - Lady Mountain Films, RUN FREE - Ethan DeLorenzo, THE REALITY OF RUNNING - Milo Zanecchia, FAITH IN THE FUTURE - Adam Wells and Ryan Scura, FOOTPRINTS RUNNING CAMP - Max Romey, NETTIE FROM OHIO - Jessica Vandenbush, OUT TRAILS - Nick Danielson

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 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.

In 2009 started the hardest and longest footrace in the world: an average run of 43 miles/day, 64 total stages, no days off, for a total of 2,800 miles from southern Italy up to the North Cape in Norway. Nights were spent in gyms, kindergartens or swimming baths on own mats, there where no accompanying service teams, no closed streets during the racing day... The performance expectations were turned upside down. It's not just about physical fitness but also about who can master this huge challenge in their head. Women become dreaded opponents of men. Ideal age is 40 - that's when mind and body are equally strong.