Peace County filmmaker wins award at Toronto festival

A Goodfare man has won a Best in Festival award from Toronto’s Alternative Film Festival.

David McGregor won the Best Cinematography award for his work on the film Undefeated: Journey to the Death Race.

“It feels really great,” said McGregor. “You know, there are so many films that you’re up against at a festival, so it’s always pretty meaningful when an award comes in.

“To win it in a big centre like Toronto also says a lot about the kind of films we’re able to be producing in this region now too.”

He adds there is an appeal in the extreme nature of ultra marathons like this.

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“(It is a) gruelling, full 24 hours of running, right? It was just kind of something you want to see for yourself,” said McGregor. “To be on a project where you have the chance to film it, it was almost like we were able to do a version of the race ourselves because we did shoot for the entire 24 or 25 hours, whatever it was. We were all awake and tracking the runners through the whole course.”

McGregor says changing weather going from rain to sun to sleet in a short time added to the challenge.

The Death Race takes place every year near Grande Cache.

Co-producer, director, and camera operator Rew Jones says it has been great seeing how people have responded to film, a response he says has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We talked about the Death Race in general and then we also followed four local athletes specifically and their journey leading up to the Death Race,” said Jones. “And then we captured the entire race and their experience as well.”

Other Best in Festival winners at the Alternative Film Festival came from the US, Greece, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.

Undefeated: Journey to the Death Race will be among the works included at the upcoming Reel Shorts Film Festival. It will go from April 26 to May 9.