LEARNING TO FLY follows former competitive runner turned photographer Aisha McAdams as she embarks on a journey to document the triumphs and struggles of some of the biggest names in ultra running, such as Jim Walmsley and Eszter Csillag, as they compete at the Western States Endurance Run in the Mountains of Eastern California and the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) in the French Alps.
While photographing and interviewing these elite runners, Aisha confronts her own painful and complex past, and the reasons why she had to step away from racing, a pursuit that had once brought her a much-needed sense of freedom, joy and belonging.
On its face, it might be hard to understand why someone would push themselves to run grueling 100-mile trail races, through the night and up and down thousands of feet of mountain trails. Throughout the journey of documenting these elite athletes in competition though, watching their failures and triumphs up close and seeing the community they’ve built by the process of pushing the unknown, Aisha starts to reclaim not only her love of the sport but also her belief in her own ability to confront her own idea of impossible within her interpretation of the sport.
Aisha McAdams is an award-winning photographer and photojournalist based just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, but globally on the move. Fueled by a passion to document the human experience, her work is driven by the stories found within sport and recognized for its intimacy. McAdams’ roots in photojournalism continue to shape her distinctive style across both documentary and commercial projects. In 2021, she published We Appreciate Your Interest, However, further cementing her reputation as a curious creator dedicated to sharing the stories that words alone cannot communicate.
Jim Walmsley is an American ultramarathon and trail runner living and training in Flagstaff, Arizona. Known for pushing the limits of endurance, he has set multiple course records, including the Western States 100, which he won in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2024, and the famed R2R2R route in the Grand Canyon. Walmsley has also claimed victories at the JFK 50 Mile, Lake Sonoma 50, Tarawera Ultramarathon, and in 2023 became the first American man to win the prestigious Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. Fueled by a passion for exploration and competition, he continues to inspire the ultrarunning world by redefining what’s possible.
Known for his ability to capture deeply human stories on some of the most exposed edges of the world, Max Lowe has honed his skill as a director and photographer in his search of narratives unheard.
From his home in the mountains of Montana to now countless countries and landscapes acrossthe globe, Max has been witness to stories spanning the gap of the human experience.
Max directed his first feature doc “Torn” which premiered at Telluride Film Festival in 2021 and is now available on Disney+ and Hulu with National Geographic Docs, and followed that with the short documentary "Camp Courage" which is available on Netflix and was shortlisted for the 95th Academy Awards for best short doc. Max has since partnered with Academy Award winning producer Evan Hayes on his follow up feature doc “Learning to Fly.”
With a background in observational journalistic style storytelling honed over years of telling human driven narratives around the globe. Max has emerged with a distinct style by which he crafts his narratives unheard.
Evan Hayes is an Academy Award, BAFTA & Emmy Award-winning producer and the Head of Film & Television at Unreasonable Studios. He is known for his work on both critically acclaimed documentaries and high-profile scripted films.
Hayes’s current projects include the upcoming Netflix original film The Truth & Tragedy of Moriah Wilson directed by Marina Zenovich, as well as the feature documentary Sail directed by Frank Marshall for IMAX. Recently, Hayes produced the adventure thriller Buried, which became a Top 10 movie for Netflix, the scripted series Maggie for Hulu, Liz Garbus’ Critics Choice-winning & BAFTA-nominated film Becoming Cousteau, Stacy Peralta’s surf epic The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez made in partnership with Patagonia Films, as well as Dawn Porter’s award-winning film The Way I See It about Chief White House Photographer Pete Souza, for Focus Features.
In 2019, Hayes won an Oscar for producing Free Solo, directed by E. Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin for National Geographic Films. The film, which follows Alex Honnold’s historic free solo climb of El Capitan, became a global phenomenon and earned widespread recognition for its breathtaking cinematography and gripping storytelling. In addition to winning an Academy Award, the film also won a BAFTA, four Critics Choice Awards, and seven Primetime Emmy Awards, among others.
Before joining ACE, Hayes served as President of Parkes+MacDonald/Image Nation, where he oversaw the entire slate of film & television projects including Men in Black: International for Sony Pictures, Rings for Paramount Pictures, The Circle starring Tom Hanks & Emma Watson, and He Named Me Malala directed by Academy Award-winner Davis Guggenheim. Prior to that, Hayes served as President of Story Mining & Supply Co. where he oversaw the Starz original series Outlander as well as the feature film The Yellow Birds.
Hayes also spent eleven years at Working Title Films where he served as a producer or executive on such films as Everest, Rush, Les Miserables, Contraband, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Paul, Green Zone, A Serious Man, State of Play, Frost/Nixon, Burn After Reading, Definitely Maybe, Love Actually, Atonement, Hot Fuzz, Smokin’ Aces, United 93, and Senna. Prior to joining Working Title, Hayes worked for producer Philip Steuer (Narnia, Oz: Great & Powerful) and in Paramount Pictures’ Financial Planning and Creative Affairs departments.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Hayes is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. He is a member of the British Academy of Film & Television Arts, the Producer’s Guild of America, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Jessica is an award-winning film and commercial editor and director. Most recently, she edited HBO’s When a Witness Recants. She was an editor on the 8-part HBO series Eyes on the Prize, the third installment of the definitive Civil Rights series. She edited Amazon Prime’s Power of a Dream about the WNBA’s political activism in 2020. She co-edited Cirque du Soleil: Without a Net which premiered at DOC NYC. Prior to that was ESPN’s documentary series 37 Words about the history of Title IX. She edited the Apple TV+ mental health docu-series The Me You Can’t See featuring Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry.
Her work includes the Dawn Porter documentaries The Way I See It about President Obama’s official photographer Pete Souza, and John Lewis: Good Trouble, released by CNN Films. She co-wrote and edited the 2019 Peabody and Emmy award-winning film Dolores about Latina civil rights icon Dolores Huerta. The film premiered in the documentary competition at Sundance 2017 and was released by PBS’ Independent Lens. Jessica also produced, co-wrote & edited the documentary films The Great American Lie, The Mask You Live In and Miss Representation. The films premiered at Sundance in 2011 and 2015, and have screened in over 49 countries.
She directed the short documentary Empire on Main Street which received the audience and jury award for best documentary short at Sonoma International Film Festival 2018, has been an official selection at 21 film festivals nationally and internationally, and won best documentary at the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival. Jessica was a founding member of Umlaut Films in San Francisco, and her work has received AICE editing awards, the One Show Award, and Cannes Lions awards.
Katy Chevigny is an award-winning filmmaker and a co-founder of Big Mouth Productions. She has produced and/or directed over a dozen documentary features and series. Most recently, she won an Emmy for directing two episodes of HOME, a documentary series about innovative architects for A24 / AppleTV+, which were filmed in the Netherlands and in France.
Katy’s work has won multiple awards, been shown on networks including Netflix, PBS, NBC, HBO, Arte/ZDF, VPRO and Channel 4, among others, and has played in theaters and at festivals around the world, including Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA, SXSW, CPH:DOX, Sheffield and Berlin. In 2018, Katy was honored with the Sundance Institute / Amazon Studios Producers Award. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Jenni is an Emmy-nominated documentary cinematographer. She received critical acclaim for her cinematography on Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s ONE OF US, (Netflix, 2017) Beth Aala's MADE IN BOISE (PBS 2019), and most recently Paula Eislet and Tanya Lewis Lee's AFTERSHOCK (Hulu/Onyx 2022.)
Expanding on a strong foundation of advocacy-driven storytelling, Jenni has recently worked on a few projects featuring high-profile subjects; They Call Me Magic a series on Apple TV+ about Magic Johnson, and a feature documentary about beloved author Judy Blume for Amazon. A former Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco in the field of public health, she holds a Master in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in social documentary film. In 2018, she was named to DOC NYC's inaugural 40 under 40 list.
World Premiere at Telluride Film Festival
Friday, August 29th at 8:30PM MT
Abel Gance Open Air Cinema
