Run for Your Blog

Drew Toal for Time Out New York
"3 out of 4 Stars. memorable... the can-do immigrant spirit that made this country great."
Watchdog Neil Best for Newsday
"interesting... emotional."
Scott Kasta for Movie Jungle
"surprisingly touching... fascinating... compelling."
Road to New York
"10 out of 10. The greatest biographical documentary I have ever seen... top notch... incredible... funny... touching... great filmmaking."
Sportsbiztech
"by the end, you’ll be cheering for Lebow."
Pigtails Flying
"marvelous and rich."
Run Dangerously
"fun and insightful... go see this movie!"
Sports and Shorts
"sports doc at its best... inspirational... highly recommended."
Maine Running Forum
"as intense of a movie moment I've ever experienced."
Running Chronicles
"truly inspirational... I recommend this film to everyone... people from all walks of life will be amazed."
La Bibliofille
"tells a powerful and moving story... Ehrlich brings a very personal touch."
Trakmaniak
"amazing... impressive and heart-warming... uplifting."
Filmicability with Dean Treadway
"Run For Your Life does what all fine docs do: it recounts a story we've never heard, but which has massive historical implications. It gives us a main character worthy of our attention. It has a complex structure that doesn't follow events as they happened in a timeline, but as they relate to one another. And it inventively illustrates its story with perceptive interviews, archive footage that's well-edited, and stunning graphic work. I also have to mention its incredible source-music soundtrack of past hit songs and present-day songs that should be hits. I've never been a runner--I'm too busy watching movies, so I've always found its appeal a bit mystifying--but now after seeing the inspiring Run For Your Life, I think I know what its point is."

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