The shootings for a feature-length documentary in the extreme weather conditions from the North Pole will take place this year, from February 27 to March 9, 2020.
everRestless aims to capture the most intense moments experienced by the Romanian marathon runner Vlad Crișan Pop, during the toighest ultra-marathon in the world. Vlad embarks again in this adventure with the purpose securing the funds for 100 educational scholarships, worth of 600,000 lei for children with cancer from the MagiCAMP family.
The 2020 arctic race will start at Eagle Plains (Yukon) on February 27, 2020 and it will end in Tuktoyaktuk, in Canada`s Nothwestern territory. The total length of the itinerary is of 620 km, with 4,000 difference in level. Last year, in March, after 35 hours and 25 minutes, Vlad Crișan Pop managed to win the short race (193 km) of this ultra marathon.
This time, Vlad will be accompanied in his adventure by the film director Sorin Florea, the photographer Adi Bulboacă and the sound designer Tudor Petre. The experience lived by Vlad in 2019 and the stories he returned with inspired the screenplay of this documentary. Being known as the toughest ultra-marathon in the world, 6633 Arctic ULTRA is a test for the entire team, as they will have to overcome many physical and mental limits. The documentary is essentially a journey into the mind of the man entering the race to overcome his own limits; it is about the power to resist one`s mind when reality gets distorted.
In the ultra-marathon 6633 ARCTIC ULTRA, every step of the way there are risks that are difficult to anticipate by the contestants, no matter how intense they train beforehand. The runners often undergo the risk of frostbite, they confront with snow storms and extremely low temperatures (lower than −30 °C) or they can face different eye problems because of the light reflecting on the snow crystals. Hallucinations are another challenge that all the participants who dare embarking on this adventure have to face, because of the fatigue and of the effort accumulate along the way. After the first expedition in March 2019, Vlad remembers that his mind played some tricks on him a few times: “The second night I has heading to Ford McPherson and I was getting close to the finish of the 193 km, when I heard a car getting close to me.
I was walking head down, I was extremely tired and the thought of giving up visited me. When the car came closer, I heard a man voice saying «If you want, you can quit, you don`t have to suffer anymore. You can stop and I`ll drive you to the village.» What saved me from quitting and what kept me going was the image of a little boy that I had met at MagicCAMP. The boy had lost one leg because of the chemotherapy, but his biggest dream was to be able to run again…I remembered the reason why I entered the race and I didn`t allow myself to quit. When I opened my eyes, the car and the voice were no longer there.”
During the competition, the participants must drag a 30 kg sled loaded with belongings (clothes, food and other things that can help them survive on their own). During the race the organizers only offer them hot water to prepare food.
for the film production team, making this documentary is a challenge in itself. It is an independent film and the money for making it come only from donations and sponsors; the necessary equipment is not fully covered yet, because the necessary amount of money is not covered. The three filmmakers will accompany Vlad Crișan Pop during the race, but they will only watch his experience from a distance, from inside a car, because the marathon rules forbid any interaction with the participants.
“Making this film will be quite an adventure, because our equipment can crack at any time because of the very low temperatures. Moreover, we are not trained athletes and it will be very difficult for us to adapt to the North pole conditions while keeping the pace with Vlad, our main character.
We still need support because we must also have special equipments for extreme cold winters and all the expenses with the necessary film equipment, food, car rental and fuel are very high”, the film director Sorin Florea said.
All the people who are interested in supporting this project can donate money on the
https://www.sprijina.ro/cauze/everrestless2 platform or they can directly donate into the account RO70BTRLRONCRT0467890701 opened at Banca Transilvania, on the name of the film director, Sorin Florea.
The race can be watched starting with February 27, 2020,10:00 local hour on the
Facebook page of the project.
