Writer and Director Dan Sanguineti reveals the behind the scenes stories while making BEYOND THE RUN. ​ When Jenny Chen believed that the story of her running group No One Left Behind Run would make a great documentary film, she pitched the idea to John De Margheriti, Film Producer and Founder of the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE). Then in December 2024, he invited me to meet with Jenny to discuss her vision. I responded so emphatically to her vision that I pitche

Writer and Director Dan Sanguineti reveals the behind the scenes stories while making BEYOND THE RUN. Often, documentary is written in the edit. This holds true, in part, for Beyond the Run. However, as I had a strong vision from day one of how I wanted to tell this story, as well as a clear schedule of events the running group would participate in over the production period, I was able to develop a full story treatment that followed more traditional narrative structures, not

Writer and Director Dan Sanguineti reveals the behind the scenes stories while making BEYOND THE RUN. It remained important that I instilled genuine authenticity into the story, rather than manufactured moments. To seed this correctly, in the months leading up to the Run itself, I chose to be curious and inquisitive with my main subjects and looked to get to know them and understand them. I achieved this by often re-asking similar but differently worded questions I had asked

Writer and Director Dan Sanguineti reveals the behind the scenes stories while making BEYOND THE RUN. As the film's narrator, Ming shows us that despite his positive and energetic persona, and his success in his career after his own international student journey, he faces his own self-doubts, hiding away his feelings at times. But he finds his strength, from his parents, who he once left behind in China to choose a new life in another country. ​ This is when the labels stop m

Writer and Director Dan Sanguineti reveals the behind the scenes stories while making BEYOND THE RUN. For the last 5 years, AIE has been building towards becoming a premier educator of Virtual Production and In-Camera Visual Effects (ICVFX), being the first in the world to offer a 2-year training qualification course that utilises this technology. Further, the Studio's upcoming commercial slate of productions incorporates significant use of Virtual Production tools. Choosing

Writer and Director Dan Sanguineti reveals the behind the scenes stories while making BEYOND THE RUN. The production crew itself, that captured the runners over several months, and through the non-stop 38-hour shoot itself, were made up entirely of AIE staff and students out of the Canberra and Sydney campuses. Some of whom were my own graduates that I helped train across two years of their film course, and others who were still enrolled during production as part of the work