Run For Me
Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard
Run for Me is a film about hope, fear, chafed nipples and free Mars Bars. Charting the course of the run, this major new work is a dynamic collage of talking heads involving dozens of runners, their supporters and spectators.
Filming in the week leading up to the 2007 run and at the start and finish lines on the day itself, Iain and Jane talked to race veterans and novices, the man who devised the course, the manager of the information kiosk and even Superman, as the fabric of the event is unpicked by those who participated.
From the endurance of training through to nerves on the starting line, finding your rhythm to trying to overtake Scooby Doo in the last mile, then crossing the all-important finish line with your head held high - ultimately, Run For Me reveals, with crushing honesty, what makes us who we are, runners or not.
Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard make accessible process-led art. They are pioneers of the recent trend exploring re-enactment as an artistic genre. From The World Won't Listen in 1996 to A Rock 'N' Roll Suicide at the ICA and, more recently through their film File Under Sacred Music, they have had the insight to key into contemporary society's engagement with performance and artifice as a vital part of cultural expression. In 2005 they recreated Vita Acconci's Walk Over working with Plan B, a young MC, to re-shoot the video adopting the aesthetic of urban music videos. In 2006 they presented Silent Sound featuring an original score by Jason Pierce (Spiritualized) for the Liverpool Biennial. Their most recent work has included collaborating with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to create promotional videos for their new albums.
