IFC News: New York Characters

Caddy Audience Choice Award

Out of nearly 130 feature films at this year's festival, Run for Your Life is now in 6th place for the $25,000 Cadillac Audience Choice Award. Thanks to all the audience members who voted.

Today's Standings for The Cadillac Award
1. Pray the Devil Back to Hell
2. War Child
3. Gotta Dance
4. Playing for Change: Peace Through Music
5. Man on Wire
6. Run for Your Life
7. Under Our Skin
8. Kicking It
9. The Wackness
10. Fighter

"this year's most popular NY crowd-pleaser!"

NY1 News - Tribeca Film Festival: Documentary Looks at Legend of NYC Marathon Founder

Variety - Run for Your Life
Emmy-nominated director Judd Ehrlich ("Mayor of the West Side") dishes up another character-driven Gotham docu with the story of Fred Lebow, shrewd mastermind of the New York City Marathon, who essentially ran running in the metropolis from late 1960s until his death in 1994. Genially told through interviews, archival footage, and photos, the history of this unlikely fitness maven from Transylvania forms part of a larger tale about the upturn in fortunes of his adopted city. Sure to be popular on home turf, pic should sprint through other fests before finding a second wind on cable and DVD.

The New York Sun - At Tribeca, Tales of City Top the Bill
In the end, however, Judd Ehrlich's "Run for Your Life" (Thurs., Fri., Sat.) might be this year's most popular New York crowd-pleaser. An intimate profile of the eccentric, endlessly optimistic, and defiantly unstoppable Fred Lebow, who founded the New York City Marathon, "Run for Your Life" evokes the day-to-day sense of community that unites New Yorkers. When Mr. Lebow founded the marathon in 1970, 27 runners paid the $1 entry fee to participate in a race that made several loops around Central Park. Thirty-six years later, 93,000 people applied to run in the race that now takes in all five boroughs.

Mr. Ehrlich has rescued archival footage depicting some of the earliest runners as they cut across the vast Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and trek into Queens, where organizers originally feared no crowds would turn out. This is the city at its very best: Strangers run next to strangers, winding through neighborhoods they wouldn't otherwise see, cheered on by people they would never otherwise meet.

Sunday's Daily News

Daily News - Tribeca Documentaries Deliver a Dose of Drama
Marathon Man

The New York City Marathon has grown from a small event in Central Park involving a few hundred people in 1970 into a citywide extravaganza that attracts top runners from all over the world as well as casual athletes looking to conquer their own personal Everest.

The main reason for that is Fred Lebow, a classic New Yorker whose story is told in the new documentary "Run for Your Life," directed by Judd Ehrlich.

It shows Lebow galvanizing the sport by coming up with crazy promotions like a bagel run, a New Year's Eve Run and a race up the stairs of the Empire State Building, all while helping to give the city a much-needed shot of civic pride.

"The marathon came at a time when the city was in such dire straits," says Ehrlich, who worked on the Ric Burns documentary "New York." "[The marathon] was something that celebrated the city and it not only made New Yorkers feel good about New York, but made the world see it in a different way. It very quickly became a worldwide phenomenon and Fred became an emissary of the sport worldwide."

It was Lebow's genius, says Ehrlich, to build the marathon up into a massive event while keeping the focus on the average competitor.

"He always said, 'I don't want this to become a business,'" says Ehrlich. "He was at every race and the club was always open and people would be changing in the lobby. It was about making the sport bigger and yet there was this balance of not letting money rule the day."

And yes, Ehrlich feels compelled to tackle the marathon himself - and has cajoled much of his film crew to run it with him.

"It's appropriate that I'm new to running because that's what Fred was all about," says Ehrlich. "He ran like a duck, he was in the back of the pack and for him that didn't matter. He was the right guy to take that populist message out there." - Michael Giltz

Never Say "Sold Out"

From the Tribeca website:
RUSH SALES POLICY
Ticketing Tip: Never Say "Sold Out"

Even if advance tickets are no longer available, don’t give up—just think RUSH TICKETS. We admit those standing in the RUSH TICKETS line approximately 15 minutes prior to a film or panel’s scheduled start time, until a theater is at capacity. Lines begin forming approximately 60 minutes before each screening, so be sure to arrive early.

"See Jane run... a film festival!"

We love Tribeca Co-Founder Jane Rosenthal's photo caption in The Observer: "See Jane run... a film festival!"

The New York Observer - Tribeca's 7-Year Itch
There will be 120 feature films screening at the Tribeca Film Festival between April 23 and May 4, among them the documentary Run for Your Life, about the origins of the New York City Marathon and its founder, Fred Lebow. “[The marathon] was about trying to bring everybody, all five boroughs, together,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the film festival. “I found—as someone who’s put on this event—watching someone else create this major cultural event … fascinating.” Ms. Rosenthal spoke of Lebow’s challenges—1970s New York was in an economic slump, Gerald Ford had recently told it to “drop dead”—and while the marathon organizers were interested in the pure sportsmanship of running, “it was also very much, ‘We’re going to put on a show,’” she said, smiling. “Which is kind of how we approached our first festival.”

New York Daily News - Tribeca Film Festival Has Something for Everyone

The Jewish Week - Shorts People

"fascinating... exhilarating and heartbreaking"

TWI-NY (This Week In New York)
3 1/4 Tokens (out of 4)
"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE tells the remarkable story of Fischl Lebowitz, better known to the world as Fred Lebow. At the age of fourteen, Lebow left his home in Romania and eventually immigrated to the United States. In the late 1960s, he became obsessed with running, at the time a strange form of exercise practiced by very few New Yorkers. But soon Lebow was organizing events such as the Cherry Tree Marathon through the Bronx in 1969 and the Central Park Marathon, leading to the first-ever five-borough New York City Marathon in 1976, a race that many believe helped lead the city through its financial, crime-filled crisis. Through archival footage, news reports, photos, and new interviews with Lebow’s friends, family, and colleagues, a fascinating picture emerges of a driven visionary who was a masterful manipulator and negotiator, a man ahead of his time with regard to marketing and sponsorship. Among the people who share their memories of Lebow are marathoners Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter, and Grete Waitz, former mayor Ed Koch, parks commissioners Henry Stern and Gordon Davis, past presidents and board members of the New York Road Runners Club, and his sister, who makes latkes for filmmaker Judd Ehrlich. Lebow was one of the all-time great New York characters, forever wearing a painter’s cap and sweatsuit, doing whatever was necessary to get himself and his sport to the next level. The ending is both exhilarating and heartbreaking."

Gothamist - 2008 Tribeca Film Festival Mini-Preview

Downtown Express - Embracing the Underdog

Downtown Express - New York City's Starring Role

amNew York - It's Tribeca Time Again!

Salt Lake Tribune - Pinpointing Promising Flicks at Tribeca Film Festival

Runner's World - Run for Your Life Will Play at Tribeca Film Festival