Toronto Film Festival RTS Premier

EPMartin attends the Toronto Film Festival premier of Running the Sahara. The project will be narrated by Academy Award™-winner Matt Damon and directed by Academy Award™-winner James Moll. A small film crew tracked the runners across the desert, capturing their incredible journey on camera, recording this landmark moment in athleticism, in humanitarianism, and in history.The Running the Sahara documentary explores the physical and emotional impact of this tremendous test of strength and determination. The film will allow us to relive the runners’ life-changing experience as we watch them brave the elements in one of the most extreme environments on Earth and meet the unique people of the Sahara, struggling with immense daily challenges.

The film’s narrative follows the runners on their quest, each step toward the finish line building in great anticipation of answering the question: Can this amazing human feat truly be possible?

Through the documentary, their journey will become legend.

Running the Sahara is a documentary in the truest sense: The director and his crew documented the expedition, observing without interfering or influencing it in any way.

Running the Sahara is a LivePlanet and Allentown Production, presented by Independent Producers Alliance with financing support from Stanford Financial Group.

Credits:
James Moll, Director
Matt Damon, Narrator
Larry Tanz, Producer
Marc Joubert, Producer
Keith Quinn, Producer
Rick Eldridge, Producer
Matt Damon, Executive Producer
Jim Van Eerden, Executive Producer
Paul Brooks, Co-Executive Producer
Jack Gilardi Jr., Co-Executive Producer
Daniel DeLiege, Co-Executive Producer
Mark Koch, Co-Executive Producer
David Salzberg, Co-Executive Producer
Christian Tureaud, Co-Executive Producer

Charlie Engle, Jason Martin, Kevin Lin, Ray Zahab, Mike Prstojevich

EPMartin Returns to the Sahara

It was great to see Charlie again after only getting a sat call every so often for brief updates. I even had the opportunity to run with the guys for a day after crossing the Libyan border in the Egyptian town of Salum. The trip was an experience and adventure I will always remember and look back on with great memories.

Support Crew, Charle Engle, Jason Martin

The start of my trip went like this. I flew into Cairo and told the concierge at my hotel I needed to meet some friends in Libyia. He quickly responded, “I highly recommend not doing this.” So of course, I quickly arranged a local driver and we were off. I had not spoke with Charlie directly in a month or so and only knew he was running across the border town of Salum. There is only one road to Salum so I figured if we watched the other side we would eventually meet up. How could we miss an expedition in the middle of the desert? Twelve hours later and some second guessing on my decision, I arrived at the Libyan border with no expedition in sight. I convinced the driver to keep going and get to the security gate and see if they knew of the arrival of the runners. After ten minuets of phone calls and “negotiations” we were quickly escorted across the border and around security to find the expedition making arrangements to cross back into Egypt. It was good to finaly see Charlie and meet the expedition crew and movie producers . We had a good 3 hrs to catch up before our paper work cleared to cross the border. It was truly an adventurous start to the trip.

After spending a week in the Sahara with Charlie, Ray and Kevin I am amazed at the physical and mental strength of these amazing athletes. Every morning for the past 105 days they awake at 3:45 am for some bread, bad coffee and some leftovers then on the road running for 14 + hrs straight with a five minute break for a drink every 5K. I’m not sure these guys are aware yet of what they are about to accomplish.

Now just days away from the finish we wish Charlie, Ray and Kevin our best in this truly amazing accomplishment.

Charlie Engle