Filmed over four years, Personal Best follows up-and-coming British sprinters (Jeanette Kwakye, Richard Alleyne, Omardo Anson & James Ellington) on their journey from the grassroots of athletics to the international stage. The film is both a gripping portrait of the athletes in training and competition, and a deeply personal account of their lives unfolding – revealing victory, defeat, agony, ecstasy and the simple trials of growing up.
On the eve of the 2012 Olympics, this film tells the stories of Britain’s young sprinters as they strive towards their dreams. This is an inspiring but genuine portrait of Britain’s youth and a penetrating study of the art of sprinting, peeling back the layers so we can finally understand everything it means to them as they wait on the start line for the gun to fire.
Screening in cinemas now: Curzon Soho 2nd June 14.35 & 3rd June 16.50 / Lexi Kensal Rise 6th June 18.30 with athletes Q&A / Greenwich Picturehouse 7th June 20.30 with atheltes Q&A / Stratford Picturehouse 11th June 18.40 with athletes Q&A More to be announced
Reviews from the UK release:
**** “Personal Best manages that rare feat of being socially conscientious yet also artistic, and unafraid to posit huge questions about destiny and the capacity for human change” The Times
“Blair’s film offers an encouraging angle on the Games, highlighting the hard work and genuine human achievement waiting to be discovered and celebrated” Mark McCahill
“Four years in the making, it’s not a film about running so much as a human study in focus and sacrifice. With grace and tenderness, it gets inside the headspace of four young Olympic hopefuls who spend their whole lives training for those crucial few seconds on the track.” Dummy Magazine
