Skip to main content
The Runner film image, director Amar Chebib

The Runner

Darius Sam, a young man from the Lower Nicola First Nation, attempts to run a 100-mile ultramarathon in subzero temperatures to raise awareness for addiction and mental health in his community.

 

Supported by

Media Partner

Community Broadcast Partner

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Darius Sam

Credits

See Full Credits

Country of Origin

Canada

Year

2022

Language

English

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

Self Harm; coarse language

PG
17 min

Featured in:

From Chile to Canada film image

VIFF Short Forum: Program 1

What kind of alchemy occurs to transform hardship into fortune? Here, the extraordinary burn brightly.

 

MORE INFO

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Late Fame

Dir. Kent Jones
96 min

Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Memory of Princess Mumbi

Dir. Damien Hauser
80 min

In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Rosetta

Dir. Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne
93 min

A teenager tries to change her dire circumstances in this overwhelming naturalistic drama from the Dardenne brothers, winner of the Palme d'Or and Best Actress awards at Cannes, 1999.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Lessons of Darkness
Lessons of Darkness film image; smoke pillars rising from the ground

Lessons of Darkness

Dir. Werner Herzog
54 min

Werner Herzog's unforgettable documentary reveals the unfolding disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames in 1991 as a sweeping inferno of mesmerizing power.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Beau Travail

Dir. Claire Denis
93 min

Inspired by Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis' transfixing Beau Travail is set in East Africa. Sgt Galoup (Denis Lavant) reflects on his time in the French Foreign Legion, and the impact of the handsome Sentain (Gregoire Colin).

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

But I'm a Cheerleader

Dir. Jamie Babbit
85 min

Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Executive Producer

Geoff Vreeken

Producer

Hayley Morin, Amar Chebib

Cinematography

Jason Mannings

Editor

Amar Chebib

Director

Amar Chebib headshot, The Runner director

Amar Chebib

Syrian-Canadian filmmaker Amar Chebib began making videos while growing up skateboarding in the Middle East. Driven to explore themes of transformation and the human condition, his work is empathetic and empowering. His most recent film, Joe Buffalo (2021), is a short, hybrid documentary which screened at Tribeca, won 16 awards at international film festivals including SXSW, made the DOC NYC Shortlist, and was nominated for an International Documentary Association Award for Best Short. Chebib resides with his wife on unceded Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territory in Vancouver, BC.

Filmography: Wajd – Songs of Separation (2018)