Film, “The Athlete”, Showing at Southside Film Festival

The Athlete (Atletu)
Directed by: Davey Frankel & Rasselas Lakew
Drama/Bio-Pic | 2009 |93 Mins.
Ethiopia, USA, Germany

Screening Times @ Broughal Auditorium, Broughal Middle School, 114 Morton St, Bethlehem:
7:15PM Thursday, June 16
5:00PM Saturday, June 18

About the Film: Running the streets of Rome in 1960, an unknown, barefooted Ethiopian man stunned the world by winning Olympic gold in the marathon. Overnight, Abebe Bikila became a sports legend. A hero in his own country and to the continent, Bikila was the first African to win a gold medal, and four years later in Tokyo would become the first person in history to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the marathon. This soldier and quiet son of a shepherd would be acknowledged by many as the greatest long distance runner the world had ever known. One evening while returning to his home in Addis Ababa from training in the Ethiopian countryside, Bikila was involved in a tragic car accident which left him paralyzed from the waist down. Unable to walk and faced with the greatest challenge of his life, he struggled to maintain his will to live and in the process discovered a deeper meaning of competition, taking up archery for the Paralympics and competing as a handicapped dog sledder in Norway. Though his running career had come to a tragic end, the race of his life had a new beginning. For the first time, the true story of Bikila’s epic quest for life and sport comes to the big screen. Not since Raging Bull has the life of an athlete been rendered with such emotional power and cinematic grace.

About the Directors:
Davey Frankel is an aural/visual artist based in New York and Berlin. Born in New York City and raised in Miami, Davey left the sunny shores to attend Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he created his own major in Environmental Studies, Development Studies, Anthropology, and Film. This major was focused around his senior honors thesis which was a documentary film, Aserian Ake, which he made in Kenya where he had previously studied. For this film, he received highest honors. He has worked with the likes of Ang Lee, James Mangold, Jem Cohen, Yo-Yo Ma, and James Schamus. His work has crossed boundaries into visual installations and live orchestra stage performances at such places as The Whitney Museum, Fondacion Cartier, Boston Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall and The Shanghai Grand Theatre, to name just a few. His 2005 docu-animation film, “Ten,” has been described by NYC-based art critic, William S. Wilson, as “one of the best movies about painting ever made.” “The Athlete (Atletu)” is Frankel’s debut feature film, and was shot independently from the Arctic Circle to the Equator, with a crew representing 10 nations. It premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival to completely sold-out audiences, and was chosen “Best of Fest”..

Rasselas Lakew was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His early life was that of an athlete. He travelled to the United States to attend university and play Division I NCAA tennis. After finishing his undergraduate studies, Lakew became interested in filmmaking and attended the University of Montana for post-graduate film studies. It was here that the seed for telling the story of Abebe Bikila, Ethiopia’s first great marathon champion, was planted. After years of research and development, Lakew co-directed, produced, wrote, and acted in the starring role of a film based on the life of Bikila, “The Athlete(Atletu)”. The film premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival to completely sold-out audiences, and was chosen “Best of Fest”. The film has gone on to win 9 international film festival awards in 2010 and 2011, and was the Ethiopian entry for the Foreign Language Academy Award. “The Athlete(Atletu)” is Lakew’s debut feature film.