The unveiling of a fresh documentary about Terry Fox, showcasing never-seen-before footage, occurred today, a month ahead of its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Titled “Run Terry Run,” the documentary offers a unique glimpse into the 1980 Marathon of Hope undertaken by the British Columbia athlete and cancer research advocate, utilizing nearly 100 reels of recently unearthed archival material.
In the trailer, viewers are treated to conversations and insights from key figures such as van driver and friend Doug Alward, Terry Fox’s younger brother Darrell Fox, and Fox himself as he embarked on his ambitious cross-Canada run at the age of 21 to raise funds for cancer research following a leg amputation due to osteogenic sarcoma.
Director Sean Menard from Toronto obtained the original footage from filmmaker John Simpson, who had filmed Fox’s journey with multiple camera operators commencing from the East Coast. Menard’s quest for primary documentation of Fox’s marathon, fueled by the scarcity of high-quality footage, led him to discover the reels in a Toronto storage unit with the assistance of the Terry Fox Foundation. The footage was subsequently restored to 4K quality and formed the basis of Menard’s film.
Notably, the documentary eschews traditional interview formats and instead opts for voiceovers from Alward, Darrell Fox, Leslie Scrivener, the first journalist to cover the Marathon of Hope, and Darryl Sittler, the former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs who ran alongside Terry during a portion of the journey.
Terry Fox initiated his marathon on April 12, 1980, driven by his cancer diagnosis three years prior. Despite falling short of his original goal to run from St. John’s to Victoria and covering 5,373 kilometers before halting near Thunder Bay due to the cancer’s spread to his lungs, Fox’s efforts raised over $24 million at the time – equivalent to $1 from every Canadian. Earlier this year, the Terry Fox Foundation announced crossing the milestone of raising over $1 billion for cancer research.
Various documentaries have previously explored Fox’s story, with his image set to grace the next $5 Canadian banknote in 2024. Menard’s documentary captures Fox’s evolution from a 21-year-old with a grand idea to a more confident individual navigating the global spotlight while testing his boundaries. Accompanying the film is an original score composed by U.S. musician Tom Caffey, known for his work on the Michael Jordan Netflix series “The Last Dance.”
“Run Terry Run” is set to premiere at TIFF on September 19, just before the 46th annual Terry Fox Run, with a theatrical release scheduled for October 9, 2026.