The Road to Sparta, the first film collaboration of directors Barney Spender and Roddy Gibson, features in the Sports section of the festival. The premiere will take place on July 10 with the program starting at 7pm.
“It is fantastic for the film to have been selected to screen in a city which is not only mad about its sport but is also packed with Aussies of Greek heritage,” says Spender.
The 60-minute documentary tracks four runners, including “UltraMarathon Man” Dean Karnazes as they take on the ultimate footrace: the Spartathlon.
Taking place between Athens and Sparta, a distance of 246 kilometres in the searing heat of Greece, teacher Mark Woolley, project manager Rob Pinnington and Athens nurse Angela Terzi take on this gruelling challenge alongside Dean Karnazes. Finishing the race is no certainty for any of them.
Co-directors Barney Spender (arms on hips) and Roddy Gibson set up on the road to Sparta. Source: Vasilios Alexandrou/The Road to Sparta
The fifth runner in the story is Pheidippides, the man sent by the Athenians in 490 BC to ask the Spartans for military help against the Persians. It is that run that is celebrated and replicated every year with the Spartathlon.
His story is told through the verse of the acclaimed American poet AE Stallings and the vibrant specially-written score from Greek band Old House Playground.
Two years in the making and set against a backdrop of fear and crisis in Greece, The Road to Sparta is a tribute to an extraordinary race and a remarkable band of human beings.
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