Run Terry Run

Run Terry Run will inspire you all over again

Documentary

In cinemas 3w later · Theatrical Oct 9, 2026 (CA)

★ Shortlisted by Mitch Allen

Programme: Gala Presentations
Year: 2026
Runtime: 108 min
Country: Canada
Language: English
In cinemas: Oct 9, 2026 (CA)

The extraordinary story of Canadian icon Terry Fox will be told like never before in Run Terry Run, a new feature-length documentary directed by acclaimed filmmaker Sean Menard. The film offers an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at Terry’s legendary 1980 Marathon of Hope, drawing from 96 reels of never-before-seen footage and unheard audio interviews that have remained untouched for 45 years.

From the TIFF programme

This intimate and inspiring portrait from filmmaker Sean Menard (TIFF ’17’s The Carter Effect) draws upon never-before-seen footage to reveal the arduous process and profound commitment behind Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope to raise awareness and money for cancer research.

Sunday, September 20: This screening will be presented with open captions.

This intimate and inspiring portrait from veteran filmmaker Sean Menard (TIFF ’17’s The Carter Effect) reveals the vulnerable human being behind the great Canadian icon. Drawing upon never-before-seen footage, Run Terry Run walks us through the arduous process and profound commitment that fostered Terry Fox’s magisterial Marathon of Hope.

It’s a story every Canadian child learns at school: in April 1980, 21-year-old Terrance Stanley Fox set out from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, to raise awareness and funding for cancer research. Having an amputated right leg due to osteosarcoma, Fox was forced to use a poorly fitted, off-the-shelf artificial limb (advanced running prosthetics did not yet exist). Nevertheless, over 143 days, he ran a full marathon every day, traversing more than 5,000 kilometres. Fox made it all the way to Thunder Bay, Ontario, where unfortunately, the cancer had spread to his lungs, forcing him to stop. Fox died ten months later. Every year since, the Terry Fox Run honours his legacy and inspires millions of participants, now in upwards of 60 countries, to continue running for the cause.

The material the Fox family entrusted to Menard allows us to really get to know this charming, philosophical, good-humoured hero. Illness robbed Fox of many aspects of his youth but, in return, it gave him preternatural wisdom — and a vision of what it takes to enact real change. In an era marked by stark divisions, Fox’s activism continues to unite us with that most durable of all resources: hope.

Content advisory: mature themes