Update 2022

We are excited to share with you that The Secret Marathon film is now streaming live on Vimeo! See this heartwarming story of the first women to run a marathon in Afghanistan and their fight for equality and freedom. https://vimeo.com/thesecretmarathon/

The film can now be seen by anyone, anywhere in the world! We want you to know that before taking this big step we communicated with all of the Afghans featured in the film and each of them gave their support and encouragement for sharing the film more widely. 

We would love your help in sharing this news. If you know someone who could use an inspiring uplift in their life please share the link with them. If you know a teacher, youth leader or coach who wants to provide hope to our next generation, please share the link and let them know we have some great resources to help them have a great viewing experience! If you’re a parent, we have even have a new children’s adaptation of the film for audiences ten and under and an animated e-book inspired by the film you can share with your kids.

If you’ve seen the film before and loved it, please take a moment to hop over to the Vimeo link and add a like on Vimeo and even better yet, leave a comment with your review of the film. Each like, comment and view helps us get one step closer to sharing this important story of hope with more people. 

Want to share about it on social media? Here’s a sample post:

Exciting news! @TheSecretMarathon film is now streaming live on Vimeo. See this heartwarming story of the first women to run a marathon in Afghanistan and their fight for equality and freedom. https://vimeo.com/thesecretmarathon/

We encourage you to check out the Secret 3K a run/walk inspired by the film which takes place every year during International Women’s Day. To learn more visit https://www.secret3k.com/

Thank you again for all of your support! 

Kate McKenzie & Martin Parnell
The Secret Marathon

Awards & Achievements

• Winner of People’s Choice Award, Best Documentary Feature at Edmonton International Film Festival

• People’s Choice Award at Zonta Film Festival

• Audience Choice Best Documentary Runner-Up at Cinefest Film Festival

• Record breaking attendance at Calgary Underground Film Festival

• Sold-out theaters at Cinefest, EIFF, Zonta, CUFF Docs, Red Deer Justice Film Festival, Kingston Canadian Film Festival

• Canadian premiere at Cinefest in 2019

• Virtual global premiere in partnership with Demand Films and Airmeet, January 2021.

The story of the film

The beginning

It all started in 2015, when Martin saw an article about Zainab, the first Afghan woman to run a marathon in Afghanistan. At the time he was recovering from a massive blood clot on his brain, and vowed that if he could get better, he was going to run with Zainab in Afghanistan the following year.

Kate met Martin at an event, and the wheels started turning that maybe this could be a documentary. Maybe Kate should go too. Maybe Kate should run her first marathon… and maybe that marathon should be the Marathon of Afghanistan.

Since this was Kate’s first film, she reached out to Scott, an experienced filmmaker, to round out the team. That was it. The three of us decided to make a documentary. We would produce it together, and Kate & Scott would co-direct.

Documentaries aren’t easy in the best of times, but when you can’t actually tell anyone you’re making the documentary because it would put the marathon at risk… it makes it a lot harder. You can’t fundraise. You can’t promote what you’re doing. You just have to hope for the best and put in a lot of hours.

Through one generous donation from Viiz, we were able to cover our costs in sending Kate, Martin, and a small crew of 2, Colin (DOP/Camera op) and Liam (Camera & Sound), to Afghanistan for the marathon. What happened while they were there was incredible… and you’ll have to watch the film to find out.

THE MIDDLE

When they got back, it was time to create a story out of the roughly 100 hours of footage captured, so Scott started editing. Not an easy task under any circumstances, and because we were working in our “free time”, that first rough cut took about a year to make. We knew it was important to send the edit to the women in Afghanistan to make sure they were comfortable with how they were being portrayed, so that was the next step.

It was at this time that we learned that some of the women who ran in the marathon were receiving threats to themselves and their families simply for running in the race. This was a full year after they had run, and the threats continued. Some of these were the main characters of our film, and understandably they asked to be removed from our story for their safety and the safety of their families.

This is the real story. This is why the film is important. Our first priority is always going to be the safety of everyone involved, but to lose these stories meant losing the whole reason we were making the film. So, we had a decision to make. Do we make a short film that lacks substance? Do we scrap the project all together? Or do we find a way to tell this story that won’t put anyone at risk?

It might sound like an easy decision to make, but keep in mind we had all been working unpaid on this project for 2 years. You either cut your losses, and turn it into a 10 minute short film that lacks substance, or literally double down on the work needed. After much discussion, we decided we would put in the work.

THE END

Scott got to work on completely re-editing the entire film. Some stories needed to be shifted. Some stories needed to be removed. Basically, the film needed to be rebuilt from scratch. Kate partnered with our Afghan colleagues and advisors to write the script for an animation that would appear throughout the film, telling the story of what your average Afghan woman experiences when hoping to run. Martin put his efforts into raising funds through a crowd funding campaign and wrote a book about his experience in Afghanistan. Together we worked. We worked for another full year. We hired an artist to create the images for our animated story. We hired a composer to write beautiful, original music for the film. We hired an audio guru to make this film sound as good as it could possibly sound. We hired a colourist to make it look as beautiful as possible. We had a dedicated team now and together we finished the doc.

So here we are. Three years later, and we have a film. It’s not just a film anymore though. Martin wrote a book about the experience. We created The Secret Marathon 3K which has become an annual event promoting equality around the world. We’ve built a community of people who believe in this story. Martin’s idea to run in support of the women in Afghanistan, has turned into a movement for equality… all this before the film was even released. It’s incredible. 

We want to thank everyone who has been and is involved. Our community has grown beyond our wildest expectations, and we are so excited to share this film with you all. Thank you for believing in us and thank you for believing in this story. 

WHAT'S THE LONG TERM GOAL FOR THE FILM?

Once we have screened in film festivals, and hopefully found distribution, it is our goal that The Secret Marathon can be an educational resource.  We would have developed resources for teachers to present it as a film study for students that allows them to explore issues of equality and gender as well as thinking about the kinds of health and fitness goals they would like to set for themselves. It is our hope that the film will inspire the next generation to be leaders who are passionate about making the world a place where everyone is free to run. Learn more about our youth screening fund by clicking below and about how you can engage youth in our upcoming Secret 3K.