A power team-up for a good cause is a premise often used in the movies. But there is something breathtakingly atypical about one upcoming premiere at the Cochrane Movie House.
On June 25, "The Secret Marathon," a 2019 documentary film by Cochrane’s own Martin Parnell, will be screened at the Movie House as part of a fundraising campaign organized by the Cochrane Cares Running Club for the charity Classrooms Without Walls, a non-profit that supports Afghan women seeking access to education.
The goal of the screening is to raise $10,000 to cover the costs for 10 women to get their GED’s, giving them access to opportunities for higher education and a better future.
Kari Rose founded the Cochrane Cares Running Club in 2020 as a welcoming space for women of all ages and abilities to find joy, strength, and community through running. “At its core is a commitment to women empowering women—and this event is a powerful reflection of that mission.”
Rose first heard of Classrooms Without Walls from Martin Parnell, who had been invited by Rose to speak at a run club clinic. Parnell, an endurance runner, travelled to Afghanistan in 2016 with a film crew to shoot a documentary with a woman named Zainab, the first Afghan woman to run a marathon in Afghanistan.
Three years later the film was shown at a number of film festivals including Zonta, Calgary Underground Film Festival, Kingston and Edmonton, where it won the People's Choice Best Documentary Feature. The film was then released by Demand Films and shown across Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
Rose found the message of Purnell and his film “inspirational” and started looking for ways to get involved. Then she discovered Classroom Without Walls, an organization founded by another Cochrane local named David Falconer.
The organization is dedicated to helping marginalized women around the world access online education. “With the Taliban’s return to power, Afghan women face unprecedented restrictions-- many can no longer leave their homes, let alone pursue learning. This fundraiser is our way of supporting them from afar,” reads a press release about "The Secret Marathon" premiere.
When Rose heard about Falconer’s organization, she said a switch was flipped in her head. Purnell encouraged her to host a movie premiere that could double as a fundraiser.
“That touched my heart and it was something I wanted to get involved with,” Rose said. “Empowering women is what the Cochrane Cares Running Club is all about and it was something that I really wanted to get behind.”
At minimum Rose hopes the premiere will raise $5,000. She said it costs $250 per online class and $1,000 per diploma for women in Afghanistan. So, $5,000 raised means five women receive access to a level of education that they probably would not have access to otherwise.
Businesses can donate $500 to have their logos displayed on the screen before the premiere and they can buy tables at the premiere event at the Movie House, as well as donate to a raffle. Every dollar raised from the fundraiser goes towards Classrooms Without Walls.
“Everyday I put my runners on and lace up to go outside, I think ‘wow, there is nothing stopping me from doing this, I can live my life with freedom,” said Rose. “I can take courses to educate myself whenever I want, I have the ability to do that and there is nothing holding me back.”
The premiere of "The Secret Marathon" is happening on June 25 at 6:30 pm at the Cochrane Movie House.
