Get your tickets! New film explores Indigenous running
3100: Run and Become, a documentary film by Illumine productions, opened in Santa Fe on August 17th. 1964 Olympic Gold Medalist Billy Mills and Onondaga Faithkeeper Oren Lyons hosted along with Wings of America, which was celebrating its 30th Anniversary and was a producer of the film.
Watch the trailer below!
Why do you run? Has it transformed your life? Running has been used by humans for hundreds of thousands of years as a way to connect to deeper and higher worlds.
The film follows Ashprihanal Aalto, an unassuming Finnish paperboy, and Shamita Achenbach-Koenig, an Austrian cellist, in their attempts to complete the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, the world’s longest certified footrace, which takes place each summer June through August. Their 3100 quest takes viewers from the heart of this astonishing event in New York to places around the world where ancient cultures have held running sacred for millennia: the Kalahari Desert, Arizona’s Navajo Reservation (with Shaun Martin in Canyon de Chelly), and to the mountain temples of Japan. Beyond competitiveness and athletic prowess, they run not for glory but for spiritual enlightenment and universal oneness.
Dine runner Shaun Martin is featured in the film.
What do we love about the film? Not only does it feature an inspiring Navajo runner and highlights the strong running culture of that Nation, but also, it prompts the viewers to take a deeper look at the spiritual potential of running. It addresses what some cultures around the globe have always known: that running is not merely a physical practice, but a transformative spiritual practice as well.
Here's more about the race featured in the documentary, according to the film's website:
The Race promises personal expansion and, indeed, participants come from around the world to shatter their limitations and discover a deeper sense of self. At the same time, the act of running to transform oneself is as old as time. Ancient man and woman ran not just for survival, but to connect with Nature and the Divine.
We follow Aspirants of the Highest from three cultures whose own narratives parallel that of two 3100 Mile Runners – a diminutive paperboy from Finland, Ashprihanal Aalto, and a female cellist from Austria, Shamita Achenbach-Koenig. These three heroic Aspirants (Shaun Martin-Navajo, Gaolo-San Bushmen, Gyoman-san-Monks of Mt. Hiei Japan) run not for glory but for spiritual enlightenment, universal oneness or because they simply have the responsibility to run.
Where can you watch?
A list of screenings and future showtimes is available here.
You and your youth program might be eligible to attend free of charge! Director Sanjay Rawal has offered tickets to Native youth groups and health-focused groups. For more information and to request seats, please email rawals@mac.com.
Well For Culture at arizona screening
Chelsey Luger, co-founder of Well For Culture, will be answering questions on a panel following the Scottsdale, AZ screening of the film at Harkins Theater on August 31. For more information, e-mail info@wellforculture.com
