10 Qs with The Secret Marathon filmmaker Kate McKenzie
The life-changing experience of making a documentary in Afghanistan and making running safe for everyone
To mark International Women’s Day, we interviewed filmmaker Kate McKenzie about her film The Secret Marathon and the Secret 3K walk and race the film inspired.
Watch the documentary about her journey to Afghanistan to film a race threatened by terrorists where women ran in secret—it’s free on UnveilTV.
1. For people just learning about your film The Secret Marathon, what is the film about?
The Secret Marathon is about the first women to run a marathon in Afghanistan. It shares the story of Zainab, an Afghan woman who stood up for her freedom and ran in the Marathon of Afghanistan - she started a movement for equality that spread around the world.
This is the story of the brave Afghan women who are risking it all for the freedom to run.
2. This wasn't just filmmaking, it was marathon running. And not just marathon running, but traveling in secret with great risk to yourself and the runners. How did you prepare to undertake these challenges mentally and physically?
It’s true, the Marathon of Afghanistan was my first marathon. I was blessed to have legendary marathon runner Martin Parnell as my coach which really helped in preparing me for the race itself. I also had the guidance of the Calgary Muslim Marathoners who helped me learn how I could dress appropriately for the run and show appropriate cultural respect.
In some ways though there is no amount of preparation that will ever help when you are going into a war zone. We did our best to mitigate as many risks as we could working with Untamed Borders as our travel guides who offered us security as we moved around the country. I think in many ways the amount of stress these kinds of films place on the filmmakers’ loved ones often goes unspoken and we owe them all a huge gratitude.
3. You had a small crew. What kind of gear did you travel with and how did the climate and remoteness of your travels impact your shoot?
We were a crew of three as we needed to be able to pick up and move quickly when required. Every piece of gear we brought with us had to be multifunctional and had to be able to travel easily. Because we didn’t want to attract any extra unwanted attention to the Marathon or put the runners at any further risk, we kept all of our equipment small shooting mostly on DSLR’s so as to blend in as tourists.
At one point a piece of our boom mic broke so we had to cobble together another sound recorder, pole and duct tape to get the job done as we were remote enough that there wouldn’t be any other tech around. Each of us had to be able to do everything as there were times when it was considered more appropriate for a woman to be filming and other times when it was considered more appropriate for a man to be filming.
Watch The Secret Marathon on UnveilTV.
4. What's a film or documentary that has impacted you and what film influences did you carry into this film?
Having captured a lot of short pieces prior to filming The Secret Marathon, the key for me was ensuring that this piece would be a co-creation, that we would be able to work with the Afghan community to create the piece so that it would be a film made with them rather than about them. I’ve been influenced by the work of Katerina Cizek and her work with the MIT Co-Creation studio.
5. How did you balance being behind the camera and in front of it in the making of this film?
I actually didn’t want to be in front of the camera at all for this film but partway through building out the concept for the trailer we realized we needed a more relatable character. We were telling the story of Zainab who had overcome huge odds as the first Afghan woman to complete a marathon as well as the story of Canadian runner, Martin Parnell who had completed 250 marathons in one year. Adding my story as someone completing their first marathon we hoped would help be one that the audience might relate to more.
It was difficult though to balance as it meant that I was running while having cameras and recording equipment strapped to me and also trying to check in with our crew as they moved up and down the race length in their vehicle.
6. What’s the best advice you’ve received in your filmmaking journey?
Just do it. Just make something and get it out there.
7. We always have a favourite moment in our films, a scene we're proud of or a story behind the story that makes the moment so personal or significant. Do you have a favourite moment like that in this film?
My favourite scene in the film actually had to be cut to protect the safety of an Afghan woman. We were already a full year into post-production and 80% of the way done the film when we learned that this woman was receiving escalating threats to herself and her family. She asked to be removed from the film.
At that point we faced a critical decision as a team, would be patch together what we had or go back into post production basically starting again knowing that there was no additional funding coming in so it would mean working at half the original rate. The team decided to do our best to make the film, one we would be proud of and so we knew we had to get creative.
Together with Afghan cultural advisors we created the animated portion of the film which shares the story of the average Afghan woman and the challenges she would face in trying to complete a marathon at that time compiled from interviews we heard from many different women.
8. What surprised you the most in the process of making TSM?
How beautiful Afghanistan is and how hospitable the people were. I truly wish everyone could experience this amazing country and the resilient people who live there.
9. How has the experience of sharing this story with others shaped you?
The Secret Marathon has changed my life. I have been sharing the story of this brave community from Afghanistan for the last eight years. It has helped me to understand how critical it is to create safe and inclusive spaces where everyone can move freely. Freedom of movement is a basic human right and one we must fight to protect.
10. The film has spurred Secret 3K running events across the world and raised money to help women access sport and education. How did this unfold and how do people get involved?
The entire time we filmed we had to keep it a secret so we started referring to the film as the “Secret” Marathon which eventually became the name of the film.
When we came back to Canada and shared the story of the brave women who had risked so much to run, we heard from many Canadians who felt they could relate as they didn’t always feel safe to go for a run in their own community. Women shared with us how running on their own, at night or in certain places, felt unsafe. Inspired by how Afghans had used a safe race to create a safe space we thought perhaps we could reclaim the spaces where people felt unsafe by running together during the week of International Women’s Day.
What started as an idea has now become the 7th annual Secret 3K run/walk held across Canada and around the world having been hosted in 27 different countries. Our purpose is to create safe and inclusive spaces where everyone can run freely. We are celebrating our right to run free.
We would love to have you join us [each year in March] from anywhere in the world.
To register or learn more, visit Secret3K.com.