On March 14, 7 p.m., the film 40 Below: The Toughest Race in the World will be screened at 9 Market Street in Ellenville. Produced by Kerhonkson resident Melody Gilbert (who curates the Borscht Belt film festival, too), it chronicles the Arrowhead 135, a 135-mile ultramarathon run in northern Minnesota in the dead of winter. It has a special place in the world of extreme endurance racing alongside the 160-mile Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert and the Badwater, which runs 135 miles from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney – including a sweet climb of 4,000 feet in temperatures that can reach 120ºF.

Hard as those races are, the Arrowhead is, supposedly, worse. It’s the toughest of the toughest races, seeing runners, skiers, and bikers depart from International Falls to Fortune Bay, along a snowmobile trail in January. Most compete “unsupported,” i.e. alone.

The film follows two runners in the 2019 race: a junk food-eating scientist named Leah, and Bill, an ultra-marathoner who just hasn’t been able to finish this one. He’s back for his seventh attempt. They gut through the freezing woods, sometimes hallucinating, barely able to rest or sleep in the snow because of the possibility of frostbite.

One memorable scene shows a runner named Scott Kummer, who says, “The one thing you cannot do is sweat. If you get sweaty, your race is over or worse yet, you’re dead.”

Male competitors even have to be careful about facial hair, which can capture ice and cause frostbite.

It was directed and co-produced by Marius Anderson, a German resident now in Minnesota, and just shooting at those temperatures provides challenges.

“You’re out there on this trail and completely alone with nature,” Anderson said. “This isn’t in the film, but there was a woman who was tired in the middle of the race. She went to sleep on a special sleeping mat, just laid down for a couple hours. Woke up and saw tracks all around the mat, showed pictures later, and it was confirmed to be wolves.”

North American wolves rarely attack humans, but they certainly will check them out!

Among the challenges Anderson faced was finding help. “I also realized that on the day of the race I couldn’t be everywhere all at once, so I asked around in my network of camera people who would usually leap at the chance to work on a new documentary project. As I explained the circumstances, everyone I talked to was suddenly very busy.”

Those moments of truth, we all have them. Marius was undaunted however. “I decided that, as a full-time director of photography myself, I would have to film as much as possible on my own. Though I did eventually find two additional stalwart camera people who were willing to help on the day of the race.”

So how do you operate a camera when it’s 40 below zero?

“During production, I had to store spare camera batteries as close as possible to my body to keep them from freezing. I almost got frostbite, at times could barely move my fingers, but I did manage to sleep a few hours in a cabin near the race route. I felt lucky compared to the athletes.”

Alone on the trail means alone – not only are no cell towers along that route, but your phone battery will likely die as soon as it hits the subarctic air.

Anderson used tried-and-true Panasonic and Sony cameras. “They are weather sealed,” he said, “but, of course, you cannot change lenses – the camera would freeze once you exposed it that way.”

So, with batteries held tight for body warmth and a professional-grade lined North Face jacket and “layers, lots of layers, and very good boots,” Anderson went out there to film the race. It was a challenge.

“There was a dramatic moment coming up. I had to shoot it,” he recalled of one tough incident. “But I had the gloves on and you can’t really operate the camera like that, so I pulled them off and used my bare hand. Something I would regret a couple minutes later.”

Anderson ran back to his car, which had to stay running or the engine wouldn’t start again, and says he “jammed my hands up against the heat vent and kept them there for several minutes.”

When the grueling recording process was done, Anderson reached out to Gilbert to help produce the film. Gilbert was living in Minnesota at the time and known for her independent feature length documentaries. She is the producer of the award-winning The Starfish Throwers from 2014. Gilbert said, simply, “I worked on it with him. These people running like that are otherworldly. Their abilities are just so fascinating to me.”

“There are a lot of fun stories here,” she said of the film. “There’s an ultra-marathoner who participates and he runs in a meat locker to get accustomed to the cold.”

Gilbert moved to Kerhonkson, because, “It’s the most beautiful place – maybe anywhere.” While here, she has taken on curating the Borscht Belt Film Festival.

So, our winter is coming to an end. We had some cold nights, but nothing like the conditions on the Arrowhead trail. On Friday, March 14, we can vicariously enjoy the agonies and ecstasies of people who are very brave, very tough, and just a little obsessive.

40 Below won a special jury prize at DocFest San Francisco, plus a number of other awards including best documentary film at a Duluth film festival. You can see the trailer at www.vimeo.com/791538032.

“Over those 60 hours, I experienced joy, sadness, and defeat by observing some of the best endurance athletes in the world,” Anderson said. “In the end, I learned that the most important thing in life is to try.”

Melody Gilbert will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening. The event is free to COFFE members and $5 for the general public.