Long Time Running

Long Time Running is a documentary from Canadian filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal (Watermark) and Nick de Pencier (Black Code). It had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, just over a year after the band’s tour wrapped last August.

LONG TIME RUNNING is a feature documentary film that follows The Tragically Hip’s iconic 2016 Man Machine Poem cross-Canada tour and final concert in their hometown of Kingston, after the band’s announcement that lead singer Gord Downie was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer. Blending interviews, verité, intimate behind-the-scenes moments, abstraction, fan testimonials, audience experience and performance footage, we chart the path from the first tenuous rehearsal in Toronto to the triumphant rendition of Ahead By A Century in Kingston, watched by 11.7 million Canadians, the second largest broadcast audience in Canadian history.

In their notes for the film the directors spoke about their experience shooting the film. “We are deeply honoured by the trust put in us by Rob, Paul, Johnny and Gord. Thank God they all liked it. In some ways it was the hardest documentary we’ve ever made—hard and beautiful— because there was no distance or pretense of objectivity possible. We are friends, and have been listening to their music since the beginning. What the film became, a kind of reciprocal love letter from the band to the fans, from the fans to the band and from us to both, is tied up with that.”

Long Time Running is rated PG.