The 2010 Moving Image Commission by award winning film-maker Claire Leona Apps was launched at the In The Long Run exhibition. Girl Blue Running Shoe follows the daughter of a runner participating in the Bupa Great North Run as she makes a film as he trains and runs the race.

The film begins calmly with a serene domestic set-up, building pace as the race begins, cutting between the training day and the marathon.

At points which demonstrate the intensity of running, a special zoetrope effect is used, breaking down the movement of running into paused actions, reflecting the rhythm of the action - the steady thumping of shoes on gravel, a beating heart, breathing.

The piece is shot solely on Super 8, edited to emulate both the excitement of the daughter as an observer and the adrenaline of the participator. With a soundtrack of enhanced natural noises, Girl Blue Running Shoe is an evocative celebration of the human body whilst also telling the simple story of a father-daughter relationship.

Claire Leona Apps was raised in Hong Kong and Indonesia before moving the UK where she graduated from the London Film School. She has written and directed a number of short films, including Gweipo starring Fancesca Annis which won Best Short at the Tiger Far East Film Festival in London and the Special Jury Prize at AFIA Film Festival in Denmark. In 2007, Claire Leona founded her production company Dog Eared Films and in 2008 she was a finalist for the Commonwealth vision Awards with the short film Hubcaps and Bathtubs. 

www.dogearedfilms.co.uk