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ULTRA

By Balazs SIMONYI

TRANSILVANIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL - as FEST

Documentary - Completed 2017

A unique journey into the minds of everyday athletes, in their past and present covering the original marathon legend.

- Year of production
- 2017
- Genres
- Documentary
- Countries
- HUNGARY, GREECE
- Languages
- FRENCH, HUNGARIAN, GERMAN, ENGLISH
- Duration
- 81 mn
- Director(s)
- Balazs SIMONYI
- ISAN
- 0000-0005-951A-0000-4-0000-0000-P
- Producer(s)
- Laszlo JOZSA (Speak Easy Project)
- Synopsis
- ULTRA is a creative documentary about people who dedicate their lives to running, in order to compete in this radical journey. The movie follows them as they confront extreme hardship and surpass the limits of their strength, both in their body and their mind. Whether running to escape from their everyday life, to challenge ageing or to seek the supernatural, every runner gets a taste of immortality and experiences his own mortality.
  The four protagonists have their own answers, a particular motivations for why. For some of them it’s a therapy, for some of them it’s a compensation or a journey. ULTRA is a touching human drama, a character-driven-film told from an antiheroic angle. The movie follows the protagonists on the 246 km-long road of contemplation and self-discovery. ULTRA offers a special access to the thoughts and naked emotions of everyday athletes.
  Balazs Simonyi is not just the director of the film, but one of these runners. He finished successfully many ultra races, especially Spartathlon 4 times in a row (2013-2016). Actually he never gave up any races. He introduces the audience to this unknown universe, and shares his naked feelings and thoughts on the road. A first hand experience. Balazs’s life was changed 10 years ago by running, it helped him to carry on. He ran more to get further and deeper. During this time he kept asking himself: Why do people run really long distances? What is this compulsion? Why do we challenge and torture ourselves? ULTRA will reveal the answers.