Bannister: Everest on the Track wins top prize at International Athletics Film Festival

Kimbia Athletics is delighted to announce that the film it produced and directed, Bannister: Everest on the Track, has claimed the top prize, the Golden Achilles, at the second International Athletics Film Festival in San Sebastian, Spain.

The announcement was made over the weekend after a week-long series of screenings in the Basque city, with the film following in the footsteps of last year's winner, Town of Runners.

Bannister: Everest on the Track examines the story and context of the first ever sub-four-minute mile, detailing just what it meant to the British public at the time, coming as it did less than nine years after the end of World War II.

Previously named one of the best sports documentaries of all time by IndieWire, the film gained much critical acclaim after its initial release in 2014. The first full version of the film was released in 2016 with a revised version completed in 2018 following the death of Bannister.

Directed by Tom Ratcliffe and Jeremy Mosher and edited by Becky Paige, the film includes interviews with various legendary figures in the sport such as Sebastian Coe, John Landy, Chris Chataway and of course Bannister himself.

Speaking after the announcement, director Tom Ratcliffe of Kimbia Athletics said: "We first started thinking about the film in 2013 as the 60th anniversary of the four-minute mile approached. It's a feat that has a heritage and legacy unlike any other in athletics and perhaps sport as a whole. Roger Bannister's achievement is one that still resonates today.

"We were very lucky as one of the first people we interviewed was Chris Chataway. He was incredibly accommodating, entertaining and enthusiastic even though he was very ill with lung cancer and sadly died not long after the interviews.

"When we first met to plan the film, we agreed to view Roger as our target audience, in a sense as an audience of one. We did this, as Roger had high expectations for himself and those around him, so we felt that if Roger was happy with the film, it would be a success. And we're happy to report that he was indeed very pleased."

The film will be broadcast on the BBC and is available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon. For more information: http://bannisterdocumentary.com/