“BOSTON” is the first feature-length documentary film about the world’s most legendary running race – the Boston Marathon. The film chronicles the story of the iconic race from its humble origins 120 years ago, starting with only 15 runners, to the present day. The Boston Athletic Association granted exclusive documentary rights to BOSTON producers as well as use of the Association’s extensive archive of video, photos and memorabilia. The film showcases many of the most important moments in the history of the oldest annually contested marathon in the world. Evolving from a working man’s challenge to welcoming foreign athletes and, eventually, women, Boston is the stage for many firsts paving the way for the modern marathon and mass participatory sports.
BOSTON immerses the viewer into the world of the marathon – the only sport in which an everyday athlete can participate alongside the best in the world – to experience the preparation, competition and camaraderie of the runners and the loyal dedication and support of the spectators. Recounting the history of Boston champions such as Johnny Kelley – who ran the marathon through eight decades; and Stylianos Kyriakides – who won in 1946 to raise money for food, supplies and other relief for his home nation, Greece; and following modern athletes such as Olympic medalist Shalane Flanagan, BOSTON connects the history of the marathon and its runners with the 2014 race in an inspiring telling of heroism, friendship, dedication, and bravery.
Following the tragic events of 2013, BOSTON records the preparations and eventual running of the 118th Boston Marathon one year later when runners and the community gather once again in support of one another for what would be the most meaningful race of all. Runners and spectators join together, “Boston Strong,” to overcome the fear of the terrible, exhibiting the best of the human spirit. Accompanied by Jeff Beal’s original score and narrated by Boston native Matt Damon, BOSTON imparts an emotional journey into the wondrous kaleidoscope of the marathon, a microcosm of the ability of humans of all ages, genders and races to be unified by a single event.
“The Boston Marathon is like no other event in the world, and to have its history captured through this type of exclusive documentary is extraordinary.”
Jon Dunham
Producer • Director • Cinematographer
Jon Dunham is an award winning filmmaker and a 25-time marathon finisher. The fusion of both these passions is reflected in his Spirit of the Marathon films.
Premiering at the 2007 Chicago International Film Festival, Spirit of the Marathon won the coveted Audience Award. It was subsequently released in more than 400 cinemas across the United States, where it grossed over $1 Million in two days on its way to becoming one of the year’s most successful theatrically released documentary films. The critically acclaimed production, which has become a cult classic among runners, was followed by Spirit of the Marathon II in 2013.
BOSTON is the filmmaker’s third and final film on the subject and marks the first time in the legendary race’s history that the complete story will be told in a feature-length film.
As a cinematographer, Dunham has lensed a wide range of documentaries and has filmed on every continent.
Megan WIlliams
Producer
An Academy Award nominee and recipient of the Alfred I. duPont Columbia Journalism Award, Williams teamed with Dunham in 2002 to produce No Distance Too Far, an official selection of the International Documentary Association’s 6th Annual Documentary Film Showcase.
A former adjunct professor at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, she began her career in the 1970’s as co-founder and partner of TVTV — an independent video collective known for its influential body of work.
Frank Marshall
Executive Producer
With more than seventy films to his credit, Frank Marshall is a visionary producer who has helped shape American cinema. Marshall’s credits as a producer include some of the most successful and enduring films of all time. His movies have been nominated for a multitude of Academy Awards, including Best Picture nominations for such films as Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Color Purple, Seabiscuit and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Marshall has garnered wide acclaim as a film director, having brought to the screen such memorable movies as Arachnophobia, Alive and Eight Below. Recent projects include Jurassic World, Steven Spielberg’s The BFG, Jason Bourne and Clint Eastwood’s Sully. In the documentary space, Marshall has produced such projects as Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz, Alex Gibney’s critically acclaimed The Armstrong Lie and the Frank Sinatra documentary miniseries for HBO.
Tom Derderian
Executive Producer
Tom Derderian ran the Boston Marathon for the first time while a senior in high school in Milford MA. He ran track and cross-country at the University of Massachusetts, graduating with a degree in Journalism. He ran in the US Olympic Trials marathons in 1972 and 1976. His fastest Boston was 2:19:04.
Tom worked in design and development at Nike in Oregon for most of the 1980’s. He has several US patents in his name.
Today Tom serves as Coach for the greater Boston Track Club and competes regularly in Masters races. He is a senior writer for NEW ENGLAND RUNNER Magazine and has written for many other running publications. Tom’s book, THE BOSTON MARATHON, the definitive history of the race, was written in collaboration with the Boston Athletic Association and published in 1995. An updated third edition is to be published in Spring 2017.
Tom and his wife, Cynthia Hastings, live on the shore in Winthrop, MA, slightly east of Boston.
Eleanor Bingham Miller
Producer
Eleanor Bingham Miller is a Louisville, Kentucky-based documentary film producer with more than 40 years experience in non-fiction entertainment. Miller worked with BOSTON Producer Megan Williams in the 70’s for the legendary documentary collective TVTV. She subsequently worked as an independent producer for PBS TV and as Public Affairs programmer for Louisville, Kentucky’s CBS TV affiliate, WHAS-TV.
Between 1980 and 2013 Miller and her Producing Partner Bruce Skinner ran Cumberland Gap Productions and then Skinner & Company LLC in Louisville. They mentored, produced or executive produced over twenty feature films, PSA’s, short-form and full-length documentaries with the likes of Ned Beatty and Muhammad Ali. Miller co-produced the 1991 independent feature film ONCE AROUND with Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, Lasse Hallstrom, Griffin Dunne and Amy Robinson. She assisted with Clara Bingham and Robert Kennedy Jr’s THE LAST MOUNTAIN, a feature-length documentary expose of mountain top removal coal mining in West Virginia. LAST MOUNTAIN was presented in competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
Since February 2014 Miller has been part of the BOSTON production team, serving variously as green screen interviewer, field producer, archivist and co-producer.
David S. Williams
Executive Producer
David Williams joined Snow Capital as a Managing Director in 2003. David is responsible for developing and maintaining the firm’s national account relationships with the wirehouses and high net worth advisors. He is a seasoned industry executive having spent many years with Smith Barney as a Senior Vice President, Branch Manager and Financial consultant. His senior management experience includes running two of Smith Barney’s largest offices in Bethesda, Maryland and Pittsburgh. David’s extensive management expertise and industry experience have enabled him to be a key partner in the growth and success of the firm. David received his B.A. from the University of Cincinnati. David is also co-founder of Taft’s Ale House and Taft’s Brewing Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio. David resides in Pittsburgh with his wife, Kim. They have one daughter, Lauren. David and Kim are involved in numerous charities in the Pittsburgh area.
Ryan Suffern
Co-Producer
As head of documentaries for The Kennedy/Marshall Company, Ryan Suffern has an active role on a full slate of films. He and Frank Marshall have collaborated on numerous projects, including three commissioned documentaries for ESPN Films, and the two were executive producers on TRANSCEND, which follows 2012 Boston Marathon winner Wesley Korir. Suffern recently directed FINDING OSCAR, a feature-length documentary about the search for justice in the case of the Dos Erres massacre in Guatemala, which he and Marshall produced together. The film is a co-production with the USC Shoah Foundation, executive produced by Steven Spielberg, and is currently on the festival circuit. Under his own banner, Suckatash Productions, Suffern has directed and produced a host of music videos, documentaries and web series, and he has also written a feature screenplay on assignment for DreamWorks Films. Suffern currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Kim, and their two daughters, Pearl & Iris.
Jeff Beal
Composer
Jeff Beal is a composer with a genre-defying musical fluidity. His film scores have received critical acclaim, while he remains a respected composer in the concert, theater and dance worlds.
Beal’s evocative score and theme for the drama House of Cards received four Emmy Award nominations, winning for score, bringing Beal’s Emmy tally to sixteen nominations and four statues. He was recently the named Television Composer Of The Year by the World Soundtrack Awards. Other lauded works for the screen include Monk (USA), and HBO’s epic series Rome and Carnivale. Film scores include recent box office and Sundance hit documentaries Blackfish, Weiner, Queen of Versailles, alongside dramas Pollock and Appaloosa.
Beal’s concert works have been performed by the St. Louis, Oakland, Berkley, Rochester, Pacific, Munich, and Detroit symphony orchestras. Commissions include works for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Smuin Ballet, Oregon Ballet, Cantus, Eric Whitacre Singers, Ying Quartet, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and grammy winner Jason Vieaux.
Beal recently conducted the world premiere of his House Of Cards in Concert with the National Symphony Orchestra; a full evening program at the Kennedy Center. In the 2017-18 he will be conducting his film score for the Buster Keaton classic silent The General with the LA Chamber Orchestra, and his House Of Cards program at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Leonard Feinstein
Editor
Leonard Feinstein has been editing documentary films and TV for over three decades. Among his credits are the award-winning feature docs Darfur Now, Bitter Seeds, and Betting on Zero. He also edited Jon Dunham’s 2012 film Spirit of the Marathon 2.
For television, his work includes the PBS series Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, NOVA, National Geographic Specials, and Craft in America.
Robert Irwin: The Beauty of Questions, a film he directed and edited, took the Grand Prize at the 1998 International Biennale of Films on Art in Paris. Feinstein has been nominated for a Prime Time Emmy, and won an American Cinema Editors Award in 2009 for his work on the TV series Greensburg. In 2013 he won the best editing award at DocUtah for the film Mona Lisa Missing.
He has been profiled in the LA Times and the Anderson Valley Advertiser. A former New Yorker and Angeleno, he now lives with his wife Susan and their three border collies in rural Mendocino County, California.
“As said in the course of the film, ‘This is beyond running’. And it will leave you breathless.”
“The legacy of this event has helped to shape the story of many champion runners. These are the stories that need to be told and preserved for generations to come.”
Thank you for your interest in BOSTON.
For information about the film, including the Director’s Statement, Filmmaker Bios and Reviews, please download our press kit here.
Download high resolution images and graphics here.
For additional information or to schedule an interview with the filmmakers, please contact: info@laromafilms.com
“There’s no one that can watch the Boston Marathon and not be inspired somehow by someone”
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“I found something in running, a spiritual connection with the Earth.”