Chinook Film Group is continuing its spring season with the showing of Man Running on April 17 at 7 p.m. at the Cochrane Movie House.
The movie is about a doctor named Jim played by Gord Rand, who runs in a grueling 24-hour, 100-mile ultra-marathon over rugged mountain terrain as he avoids the aftermath of a recent incident in his medical practice. Over the course of the marathon, as physical and mental exertion turns to exhaustion and hallucinations, race-related dramas intertwine with the details of his current crisis. He's tormented by his decision to assist in the death of a terminally-ill teenager (played by Milli Wilkinson) under his care, against both the parents' wishes and the legal parameters of assisted suicide. As the marathon drags into the night and the doctor becomes more exhausted, hallucinations and memories mix and the audience is left trying to unravel what is real and what is imagined.
Shot in Calgary, Canmore and Kananaskis, Man Running was screened on Sept. 24, 2018 as part of the Calgary International Film Festival and while it didn't win any awards, it was nominated for several different categories. Budgetary concerns were key, the film is anything but commercial. It’s non-linear, dreamlike and relentlessly dark, both literally and metaphorically, according to its website.
The film is mainly directed and produced by Calgarian Gary Burns. Burns studied drama at the University of Calgary before attending Concordia University, where he graduated in 1992 from the Fine Arts film program. Burns is also an alumnus of the University of Calgary's television program.
His works have been very well received at Canadian film festivals. His first feature film, The Suburbanators, debuted at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival, where it placed in the top ten Canadian films and was also invited to the Sundance film festival in 1996. It is a comedy/road movie about bored suburban slackers in Calgary.
At the 1997 Vancouver International Film Festival, he was awarded Best Emerging Director for Kitchen Party, a "teenage house party gone wrong" comedy. His film waydowntown was given the Best Canadian Feature prize at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival. His 2006 film, Radiant City, co-directed with Jim Brown, garnered the Special Jury Prize at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Tickets for the show are priced at $10 per ticket. There are very limited seats left with only 120 going on sale with 60 of them being at The Gentry Espresso and Wine Bar and the other 60 available at the door.
