SFIFF: Runners High

Monday's world premiere of the locally shot and produced documentary Runners High was an exuberant and charged affair. Many of the subjects of this documentary revolving around one season with Students Run Oakland, (an athletic mentoring program that trains Oakland public high school students for the mental and physical demands of a marathon) were in the Kabuki's Theater One (Note to the SFIFF staff: what is the deal keeping the balcony closed until people threaten to riot? Just open the damn balcony, already!) laughing at and cheering for the onscreen versions of themselves.

Runners High celebrates the growth and accomplishments of four of these students, three of whom ended up completing the LA Marathon. We watch the students ramp up both their training and their mental discipline, with compelling results.

We as a viewer yearned for a greater depth and complexity of story (because we know that there's complexity to be had) as well as a little less manipulation from this relatively uncomplicated addition to the Mad Hot Spellbound genre of documentary films. But, actually, we don't think we're the people this film is intended to reach. Instead, we see this film as ideally suited for a PBS documentary series or to be shown in the classroom. In fact, multiple educators in the audience begged for the film to be released on DVD so they could share with their students.

Runners High is playing again on Saturday at 3:30 at the Kabuki (bring the kids!) and next Tuesday at 8:30 at El Rio (bring a blanket!).