Runner

Saturday, June 20, 2020
6:00 pm
Q&A after the film
88 minutes
Bill Gallagher
Tickets

This is a virtual film presentation. The film will be available on-demand from June 19th and there is a live Question/Answer session with the filmmaker and primary protagonist, Guor Mading Maker, on Saturday June 20th at 9PM ET to coincide with World Refugee Day. Once you start the film you will have 72 hours to finish it. The link to join the Q&A will be emailed to you upon purchase. If you cannot make the live Q&A a copy of it will be uploaded and available from the Newburyport Film Festival Website.

Ticket Price: $12.00 - A ticket purchase button will be placed on this page on Friday.

You can easily return to this page from the website Home page by scrolling down to Latest News and selecting he News About Runner.

The Newburyport Documentary Film Festival has chosen that their percentage of the proceeds (20% of ticket price for Newburyport attendees) will be donated to the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition , the largest coalition in New England promoting the rights and integration of immigrants and refugees.

MIRA is a dynamic and multi‐ethnic coalition with 130+ organizational members, including grassroots community organizations; refugee resettlement agencies; providers of social, legal and health services, faith-based organizations and civil and human rights advocates. We organize and empower our members and allies, and together we mobilize immigrant communities to advocate for themselves, and amplify and support their voices. MIRA is a respected leader on immigrant issues at the state and national levels, and an authoritative source of information and policy analysis for policy-makers, advocates, immigrant communities and the media.

For more information about MIRA click on the logo

https://miracoalition.org/

Synopsis

https://runner.vhx.tv/checkout/runner-hosted-by-ndff/purchase?rent=1

About the Film

When he was only eight, Guor Mading Maker (formally known as Guor Marial) ran from captivity in war-torn Sudan to eventually seek safety in the US. In his new life, Maker began running again, participating in high school track and field and eventually becoming a sensation and qualifying for the 2012 Olympics. But because the newly formed South Sudan was not recognized by the International Olympic Committee, Maker had to fight to compete independently, refusing to run for Sudan and taking a stand against its oppression. RUNNER depicts Maker’s difficult and triumphant journey from refugee to a world-renowned athlete, told in intimate interviews with gorgeously animated flashbacks of Guor’s upbringing, and culminating in a heart-wrenching reunion with his parents after a 20-year separation. His story is a distinctly inspirational one in which the indomitable human spirit emerges against all odds.

About the Filmmaker

Bill Gallagher was the Line Producer for the Academy Award nominated IF A TREE FALLS. Prior to that he worked on on Marshall Curry’s award-winning RACING DREAMS, which won the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival. Both films were on the BBC and PBS and had a theatrical release. He completed his Graduate work at the Documentary Media Studies program at The New School, in New York City. In addition to working at NBC’s Washington Bureau and at Harvard Business School Publishing, Bill has also lectured on documentary production at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. Runner is his first film as director. Bill grew up in the Quinsigamond Village section of Worcester, graduated from Holy Name Junior Senior High School and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and studied in the documentary program at The New School in New York. He previously worked for Marshall Curry Productions in New York, and is currently living in Madrid, Spain with his Spanish wife.

This film won the Audience Award at the 2019 Newburyport Documentary Film Festival

Social Media for the film

Runnerdoc

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@therunnerdoc

@Runner_Documentary

To commemorate World Refugee Day - June 20, 2020

Our venues

The Firehouse Center for the Arts

The Firehouse Center for the Arts is adjacent to Newburyport's scenic waterfront park. The Firehouse Center is a hallmark for local culture and arts. Programming is broad-based, and includes dance, music, theater, and art.

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Our venues

Newburyport Screening Room

The Screening Room is Newburyport’s gem of a cinema. This 99-seat theater has been running reels nightly since 1982. The Screening Room is one of the only places on the North Shore that shows independent and foreign films.

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Our venues

Newburyport Public Library

The Newburyport Public Library occupies a historic federal mansion in downtown Newburyport. The Tracy Mansion has an impressive history of early guests including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.

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