The Trail Beyond
The Trail Beyond: 4 Women, 4 Ultra Marathons, 4 Months. Inspiring 100,000 girls and women to achieve more than they thought possible.
Interview with Producer/Director Cassie de Colling
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Can you tell us what led you to making a film about four women competing in four ultra-marathons over four months?
I first heard about The Trail Beyond through my Melbourne based documentary community. Given my experience working in action sports and natural history projects, The Trail Beyond team and I instantly connected and began to brainstorm how we could tackle filming four ultra marathons in four different countries over four months.
For me the idea of doing this project with the larger vision of inspiring women instantly triggered a sense of motivation and intention for the film. To be honest my first impression of these women was somewhat simplistic.
They were aged between 30 and 60, worked professional jobs and their personal lives could be considered picture perfect from an outsider’s perspective. But what I came to quickly realise was that these women were diversely different in their backgrounds, attitudes and personalities. Over the course of the four months I resonated with them all and came to appreciate their different attributes.
It’s hard to imagine anyone running a 110 kilometre marathon in one day which is what we see in your clip on We are moving stories. How do you even begin to film that feat of endurance? What were some of the challenges you faced making this film?
The idea of not only filming one person running these distances but 4 women running is when the logistics start to become a little bit tricky. Fortunately the first two races I worked alongside adventure filmmakers Chris Ord and Simon Madden who have experience filming these types of events. They helped me plan, track and time each of the girls so we could capture them coming through check points.
But this was tricky too as the faster girls would come through 2 – 4 hours before the slowest so I would having to be making constant decisions if to wait at a check point or go back to one to get the slower runners or to jump ahead and miss the slower runner or miss the faster runner. Anything can happen whilst they are running and I would have to try and judge who would be struggling the most as to capture them at the right time. Each of the girls were also equipped with a Gopro camera to film when the crew couldn’t be there.
‘But you’re the only one who can break your own wall and then you can go forward,’ says Ai-Futaki, the world record free-diver. The film’s a metaphor for women (and men) achieving the impossible. Can you name some examples in the film where this happens?
I don’t want to spoil things…This is metaphor is symbolic of a handful of the themes that occur in the film and making the film. Not only the physical determination that each of the women to keep running but some of the life changing events and decisions that occur whilst we were making the film really challenged all of us in different ways.
You’ve partnered with brands including Mountain Design to produce this documentary. Can you discuss this relationship?
I can't comment too much on this as I didn’t arrange the deal. They requested that the girls wear Mountain Designs branding and the edits would have their logos on them.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The feedback has been really positive. I have been surprised at the amount of interest the film is having from people that are not in the Ultra marathon community and I guess I didn’t expect that.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on this platform?
We are hoping to get the film out on as many avenues as we can. We want to get as many people to see and enjoy our film as out aim is to inspire women the more we screen it the better.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message and audience?
Sales Agents, Distributors, Publicity / Press, Film Festivals, Broadcasters.
What type of impact would you like this film to have?
I’d like to see the film screened via as many avenues as possible. As Ai Fukataki says ‘You’re the only one who can break your own wall and then you can go forward’ if this message to believe in yourself comes across to our audiences then it will really make me proud that I have achieve my goal as the director of The Trail Beyond.
Lastly, what’s a key question that will help spark a debate about this issue and film?
Would you leave your comfort zone to risk your health to run 4x ultra marathons in 4x months?
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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The Trail Beyond: 4 Women, 4 Ultra Marathons, 4 Months. Inspiring 100,000 girls and women to achieve more than they thought possible.
Current Status: Post-production
Length: 56 minutes
Director: Cassie De Colling
Producer: Cassie De Colling
Looking for (ie buyer, distributor, sales agent, producer, media interest)
Funders: The Trail Beyond