Contact: Cinetic Media Linzee Troubh 917-860-0106 PRESS KIT [email protected] SYNOPSIS The Great Alone is a feature length documentary film shot in the arctic wilderness of Alaska that captures the inspiring comeback story of champion sled dog racer, Lance Mackey. From his sunniest days as a boy by his famous father’s side to cancer’s attempt to unseat him, The Great Alone pulls viewers along every mile of Lance’s emotional journey to become one of the greatest sled dog racers of all time. LOG LINE The Great Alone is a feature length documentary film that captures the inspiring comeback story of champion sled dog racer, Lance Mackey. Director’s Statement It was approximately 3am on day 4 of the 2013 Iditarod, while I was waiting for Lance Mackey to arrive at the Takotna checkpoint, that I was finally able to articulate why I set out to make The Great Alone. The Takotna checkpoint is situated in the tiny, remote village of Takotna, Alaska (population 52) and is known for the homemade pies that the villagers serve the Iditarod mushers, volunteers and visitors. Before we set out on our filmmaking journey we were told, “Make sure you film Lance in Takotna, the pie is amazing.” It was great advice.... I guess Lance Mackey is a lot like a piece of pie. Once you get a taste of his story and personality, you want to share it with others. And like a homemade pie, the tin is often dinged up, and the crust might not look perfect, but inside is a delicious recipe refined by time, wisdom and soul. So often in my filmmaking, as I explore soulful stories of other people, ultimately I see elements of myself in them. I suppose my films are a way for me to explore my own vulnerabilities, weaknesses and hidden emotions. When I set out to tell Lance’s story I thought it might help me better understand my own journey in life and specifically my relationship with my family. Because for me, The Great Alone is about much more than the sport of sled dog racing or the epic beauty found in Alaska - it’s about family. As a filmmaker, husband, father, brother and son, there are two moments in the film that resonate deepest in my soul and they both involve hugs. Hug number one occurs at the finish line of the 2007 Iditarod. This moment was actually the first scene I cut together when editing of the film began. During Lance’s embrace with his Mom we witness Lance’s transition from crying tears of happiness to the uninhibited, deep, gut wrenching tears only released when a child is in the arms of his mom. I call moments like these “real as dirt,” so authentic, honest and raw that they penetrate your soul. Hug number two happens shortly after and is between Lance and his Dad. While editing the film I nicknamed this hug the “healing hug,” because after 30 plus years of pain, this hug marked the beginning of a reconciliation between a father and his son. Though our film is structured around the two grueling weeks we spent alone in the Alaskan wild filming a race, the film could never be simply about the race. It’s about why we race, and, in the end, what we live for. Lance Mackey let me into his race in a way no Iditarod racer had ever let a filmmaker do before. In so doing, he let me into his life, the why of that extraordinary life, and ultimately, the why of life itself. It’s a question so big that maybe only Alaska can hold it, and a question that can be so scary that few of us ever truly face it. Lance faces it head-on for us in THE GREAT ALONE, and my hope is that by sharing his story, the film will help all of us to answer that universal question for ourselves. SIFF Grand Jury Statement Our grand jury prize goes to a film that stopped us all in our tracks. One of the joys of the film festival experience is discovering a film that works so well on every level. This is an inspiring film about one man’s story that is both intimate and epic, we were knocked out by the filmmakers achievement in crafting a visually stunning, completely engrossing narrative about one extraordinary human being. By KJ Doughton It’s every SIFF attendee’s hope that during his or her film-going forays, there will be that one movie that achieves greatness. Not just a good film (with over 450 features, quality findings are inevitable), but a transcendent one that truly eclipses the others. For me, The Great Alone reached that top slot. And my fond feelings were shared by many: Greg Kohs’ gorgeous, stirring film about Iditarod racer Lance Mackey won the SIFF Golden Space Needle Award for Best Documentary. Kohs constructs his film with wonderful balance: The Great Alone succeeds as a breathtaking adventure film, an intimate character study, and a detailed immersion into Alaska’s uniquely remote terrain and culture. The Iditarod, we’re informed, is a brutal, 1000-mile dogsled race from Anchorage to Nome. The only man to win the event four consecutive years in a row, Mackey is a fascinating blend of grizzled toughness and personable humor. He claims to understand his sled dogs better than the people in his life, yet he’s a gregarious talker while interacting with fans at an outdoor convention. And he’s resilient enough to survive cancer, singlehandedly build a house deep in the Alaskan woods, and demand that his doctor amputate a frostbitten finger. We’re given raw glimpses of the Iditarod journey, as Mackey comforts his rugged sled dogs with beds of straw and accepts hospitality from desolate communities along the way. The Great Alone generates considerable emotional power by exploring what fuels Mackey’s drive to win: the complicated relationship with his father, a past Iditarod winner who mentored Mackey in the sport before leaving the family years later, and his touching bond with the dogs that pull him across the ice and snow. Kohs doesn’t sugar-coat his subject’s dark side. Immersed in drugs and serving jail time during his youth, Mackey admits to putting “his parents through hell” before finding his way to personal peace. The director gives us a real feel for the Alaskan way of life: these are tough people navigating a harsh and remote corner of the earth. Few documentaries achieve that graceful balancing act between intimate character insights and objective, big-picture focus. Kohs weaves them together in a way that’s artful, exciting, and emotionally riveting. Even the most callous dog-hater is guaranteed to get misty-eyed during the film’s beautiful final scene – a quiet, profound image that beautifully wraps up all that has gone before. Lance Mackey entered his first dogsled race at the age of approximately negative- two-months: His mom was racing when she was seven months pregnant with him. That sense of “Well, what else would I do?” pervades The Great Alone, in which Greg Kohs follows the four-time Iditarod winner during his 2013 try for victory number five. Crowd-pleasing if a bit less probing than it might’ve been, the film took home the Best Doc grand jury prize here and is well suited for small-screen play. Mackey’s father, Dick Mackey, was a racer too — Dick Mackey was a co-founder of the Iditarod Anchorage-to-Nome endurance test in 1973 — and the portrait of this archetypically Alaskan family is one of two or three unique angles the doc offers. “All I wanted to do was be like my dad,” Lance says, but Dad turned out to be not much of a father, and Lance had a troubled youth to get through before finding his place in the dynasty. He also had to beat cancer: The story of how a massive tumor emerged as Lance was mid-race in 2001 is harrowing, and the surgery left him with an exposed artery that should have ended his career. Kohs tells these stories while checking in regularly on the 2013 race. Here, we feel the arctic isolation, with the camera paying enough attention to Mackey’s feet that we feel their frozen pain. We watch him lovingly tend to his “misfit” dogs and cope with surprise dental problems. At this point in his career, the racer is treated like a rock star at pit stops — even at 3 a.m., locals young and old come to cheer him on. As he drops behind other racers — he’s in 16th place with 123 miles to go — the questions keep mounting: Can he make up enough ground to put a fifth trophy on the mantel? How many wins does he need before he can give up this punishing sport? By Derek Deskins The Iditarod is not only a challenging word to spell but a wholly incredible race. An over 1,000-mile long dog sled race across treacherous and freezing landscapes, where the racer has to rely only on himself, his dogs, and the kindness of strangers. While the clothing and equipment may improve, the value system and the beguiling simplicity of the race’s description remains constant. Lance Mackey, the subject of The Great Alone, is shown to be perhaps the complete embodiment of what the Iditarod stands for. Rough, old-fashioned, and devoted. As fantastically as it captures the environment of Alaska, it just as skillfully observes the man, something that remains eminently impressive.