BEHIND THE SCENES

01 - THE ORIGINS

Aug 22

2 min read

Writer and Director Dan Sanguineti in a neon safety vest and headphones studies two mounted monitors outdoors, with a focused expression. Photo by Charlie Bartak

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 pitched, there and then, a rough outline of what would become the documentary feature film Beyond the Run: a story told in two distinct, but highly connected halves.

Writer and Director Dan Sanguineti adjusting an ARRI Alexa cinema camera in an office beside a TV and desk, focused and serious.

In the last few years, outside of being a filmmaking educator, I had begun experimenting with writing and producing short documentary films that were shaped more like narrative fiction. This included The Way Sam Sees It (2023) and First Aid (2025). Both told real stories, but I chose to frame the real world in front of me in a language I felt most familiar with, that of mainstream cinema storytelling. Some of the biggest and most successful filmmakers in our history, Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, and Christopher Nolan, all have, almost in a cliched way, been an inspiration to how I've chosen to craft my own directorial style.

Across 20 years of experience as a Filmmaker, Writer and Producer, I have proudly produced several feature length productions that have been seen in cinemas, distributed around the world on physical media, as well as being available on global streaming platforms. But I couldn't be prouder than I feel right now to have Beyond the Run be my own feature-length directorial and writing debut.