A newly unveiled trailer for an upcoming documentary on Terry Fox reveals never-seen-before footage ahead of its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) next month. Titled “Run Terry Run,” the film delves into the 1980 Marathon of Hope undertaken by the British Columbia athlete and cancer research advocate, using nearly 100 recently unearthed archival reels.
The trailer showcases insightful commentary from key figures such as van driver Doug Alward, Terry Fox’s brother Darrell Fox, and the determined athlete himself as he embarked on his cross-Canada run at the age of 21 after undergoing leg amputation due to cancer. In one poignant moment from the trailer, Fox expresses his thoughts about home and his determination to keep pushing forward.
Director Sean Menard from Toronto obtained the raw footage from filmmaker John Simpson, who documented Fox’s journey with multiple camera operators from the East Coast. Menard’s quest for firsthand documentation was motivated by the scarcity of high-quality footage available, leading him to locate the valuable reels in a Toronto storage unit, which he then meticulously restored to 4K quality for the documentary.
The film, free of traditional interviews, instead features voiceovers from key individuals like 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). Fox’s impactful Marathon of Hope began in 1980 and covered 5,373 kilometers before he had to halt his journey near Thunder Bay, Ontario, due to the cancer’s progression. Despite his untimely passing in 1981, Fox’s initiative raised over $24 million at the time, with the Terry Fox Foundation recently surpassing $1 billion in funds raised for cancer research.
The documentary offers a unique glimpse into Fox’s evolution as a 21-year-old, capturing his growth from a fledgling runner with a grand vision to a young man navigating global attention while challenging his personal boundaries. Accompanied by an original score by composer Tom Caffey, known for his work on the Michael Jordan Netflix series “The Last Dance,” “Run Terry Run” is set to debut at TIFF on September 19, just before the 46th annual Terry Fox Run, with a theatrical release planned for October 9, 2026.
