Through the history of the Marathon, held for a hundred years in Košice, a small city in Central Europe, we learn stories woven around the world. Stories of people running for freedom, running to be ahead of time, running to run. The history of the town and the history of the marathon are blurring into one. From the first marathon, Košice was part of four different governments. The regime changed, but the marathon stayed. This track and blue lines on the road marking the way to the past. Behind the bend is the present which disappears in the fog of the autumn morning in the memory of the runners.
„We filmed the marathon itself in 2022 and 2023. Since it is a huge event consisting of 15 thousand runners scattered over 42 kilometres, we created 10 crews that filmed the marathon and our protagonists at the same time,“ junior producer Tereza Tokárová from Kerekesfilm told FNE.
The production, which began in October 2022, on the day of the International Peace Marathon in Košice, is scheduled to run until June 2024. Nearly 30 of the 60 planned shooting days took place on location in Slovakia (Košice region) and also at a marathon training camp in Kenya. The rest of the production will take place in Košice, Kenya, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
„During our research, we discovered unique stories. We found a man who has run more than the distance to the Moon, a physiotherapist who puts patients back on their feet, but has also run more than 100 marathons herself, stories of people who could never run and, conversely, those who ran involuntarily... A mosaic of stories of marathon runners and spectators,“ director and producer Peter Kerekes told FNE.
The film is produced by Peter Kerekes and Tereza Tokárová through Kerekesfilm in coproduction with Czech Hypermarket Film, Hungarian Eclipse Film, the Radio and Television Slovakia and the Czech Television. The project is supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund, Creative Europe MEDIA , Kultminor and the Košice Self-governing Region (the Terra Incognita programme).
The completion and release of the film are expected in the winter of 2024/2025. Filmtopia will be distributing the film in Slovakia.
Production Information:
Producer:
Kerekesfilm (Slovakia)
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Coproducers:
Hypermarket Film (Czech Republic)
Eclipse Film (Hungary)
Radio and Television Slovakia (Slovakia)
Czech Television
Credits:
Director: Peter Kerekes
Screenplay: Peter Kerekes
DoP: Martin Kollár
Edit: Martin Piga
Assistant director: Paula Maľárová
