Editor’s note: The Trailer intrigued me. The story is woven into a story on ultra running. We encourage you to watch the film!
Following a celebrated run in theaters nationwide, LEARNING TO FLY (FLY), the documentary from Unreasonable Studios and Chris Hemsworth and Ben Grayson’s Wild State, will make its global streaming debut on Amazon Prime Video on September 24, 2026
LEARNING TO FLY follows former competitive runner turned photographer Aisha McAdams as she embarks on a journey to document the triumphs and struggles of some of the biggest names in ultra running, such as Jim Walmsley and Eszter Csillag, as they compete at the Western States Endurance Run in the Mountains of Eastern California and the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) in the French Alps.
While photographing and interviewing these elite runners, Aisha confronts her own painful and complex past, and the reasons why she had to step away from racing, a pursuit that had once brought her a much-needed sense of freedom, joy, and belonging.
On its face, it might be hard to understand why someone would push themselves to run grueling 100-mile trail races through the night, up and down thousands of feet of mountain trails. Throughout the journey of documenting these elite athletes in competition, though, watching their failures and triumphs up close and seeing the community they’ve built through the process of pushing the unknown, Aisha starts to reclaim not only her love of the sport but also her belief in her own ability to confront her own idea of impossible within her interpretation of the sport.
