ULTRA (2017)
Logline
How far must you go to get close to yourself?
Synopsis
Year by year runners from around the world participate in one of the most prestigious and challenging of races, the Spartathlon. A historic distance of 246 km from Athens to Sparta within 36 hours. The protagonists all have their own personal reasons for joining the extreme run. None of them knows if they will ever be able to fulfill but they do know, that it is crucial for them to try and maybe reach the impossible. They are everyday athletes who test their limits, heal their souls and release their demons.
ULTRA is a unique journey into the pasts, hearts and minds of runners embraced by the running director. The Hungarian director, Balazs Simonyi, who has finished the race four times, tells a touching human drama about the runners and their universe of cathartic self-discoveries, voluntary suffering, and hypnotic state of mind, punctuated at times with humour. A real first-hand experience, a unique insight from an unknown world.
Track record (2013-2019)
Festivals: selected amongst the 15 Best Doc 2017 by the European Film Academy & wa
The story was developed with the help of Nipkow Program Berlin, EDN Docs in Thessaloniki. The project was selected for DOK Incubator, Sarajevo Docu Rough Cut Boutique and WEMW – LastStopTrieste for tutoring the editing process.
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ultradocumentary
Director
Balazs Simonyi
Country of origin
Hungary, Greece
Film release
2017 spring (in cinemas, festivals, online and broadcast)
Estimated length
83’ cinema; 52’ & 26′ TV
Producer
Laszlo Jozsa
Balazs Simonyi
Co-Producers
Hanka Kastelicova, HBO Europe
Anna Zavorszky, HBO Europe
Rea Apostolides, Anemon Productions (Greece)
Editor
Thomas Ernst
(editor of Queen of Silence and Drifter; German Camera Award 2015 for Best Editing)
Camera
Csaba Hernath, Zoltan Lovasi and others
Sales
Cat N‘ Docs
Cinema Distributor
MoziNet
Teaser