Expedition Alaska Adventure Race Documentary Now Available

Press Release / 02.12.2016

Perpetual Motion Events (http://permoevents.com) and the University of Cincinnati Production Master Class (https://www.facebook.com/ucgrml13/) are pleased to announce that the feature-length documentary Expedition Alaska is now available for rent or purchase online at Vimeo.com, (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/expeditionalaska) bringing one of the most compelling adventure races in recent history to the screen for the first time.

The 91-minute film tells the story of a 7-dsay, non-stop endurance event that took place on the Kenai Peninsula in the summer of 2015. It follows 20 coed teams of four as they run, mountain bike, paddle, climb, and navigate through the Alaskan wilderness on a course that is 350 miles (560 km) in length. Along the way they carried everything they would need to survive in the wilderness, where the battled not only Mother Nature, but each other. All the while the race clock was continuously ticking on an endurance event that is unlike any other.

As much of a challenge as the race was for the competitors, it was equally daunting for the filmmakers behind the documentary as well. The project was shot as part of the Production Master Class from the University of Cincinnati, with students, alumni, and faculty from that institution braving the Alaskan wilderness alongside the racers themselves. The class focuses on experiential learning in documentary film production. They faced many of the same challenges s the racers and still managed to capture some of the most compelling footage of adventure racing ever seen. Later, a successful crowdfunding campaign allowed the team to finish the film.

The Expedition Alaska documentary has already started to receive accolades from the filmmaking community. Not only has it been selected to appear at both the Morocco Adventure Film Festival and the Danish Adventure Film Festival, but a Drone Short Film that goes behind the scenes of filming, took first prize in at the Washington, D.C. Drone Film Festival in the “narrative” category. The use of drones was instrumental in the filming of the race, and as a result the doc has been nominated in 8 different drone film festivals in total. The drone film can be seen here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t90DlSLsnCY.

The first public screening for Expedition Alaska will be held at the Two Rivers Adventure Race held in Philadelphia, PA on Saturday, December 3 at 9:15 PM at JD McGillicuddy’s. Future screenings will be announced via the Expedition Alaska website and social media.

Available in digital format at Vimeo.com, Expedition Alaska is available to rent for $7.99 or to buy for $19.99. It can be streamed on a variety of devices including iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast.

About Expedition Alaska

Expedition Alaska is part of the Adventure Racing World Series (http://www.arworldseries.com), a coalition of 12 events that take place around the globe each year with the eventual goal of crowning a world champion for the sport.

About Perpetual Motion Events

Based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Perpetual Motion Events specializes in organizing and managing some of the toughest endurance events on the planet, including Expedition Alaska and Expedition Idaho, two multi-day adventure races that attract competitors from around the world.

About the Production Master Class at the University of Cincinnati

For the past 4 years the University of Cincinnati has supported a transformative interdisciplinary documentary film course that promotes experiential learning and collaborative across the campus.  The Production Master Class is co-taught by CCM Professor Kevin Burke, DAAP Professor Yoshiko Burke and UC/CCM Alumnus and Emmy award-winning producer Brian J. Leitten. During each school year, students go into the field and take on the roles of camera operators, audio mixers and producers. In post-production the students become executive producers, editors, scriptwriters, music supervisors, graphic designers and narrators. The three teachers serve as Executive Producers on the documentary, advising and managing the project while providing professional guidance and feedback during all phases of the documentary's development.