Maverix followed one of the world's toughest athletes, Lance Mackey, closely for the last three years of his life.
Maverix followed one of the world's toughest athletes, Lance Mackey, closely for the last three years of his life, resulting in Wild Life, which last week won best documentary at the Los Angeles Film Awards.
"We got to know Lance Mackey in Alaska during the winter before the pandemic broke out. He lived an extraordinary life and was a character of Shakespearean proportions. Tragically , he passed away far too early last fall, and this film is a historic document about his life," says Linda Nordheim, general manager of Maverix.
Lance Mackey was a race car driver and family man, but best known as a four-time winner of the legendary Iditarod. The Iditarod is a dog sled race that takes competitors through the Alaskan wilderness for nine to ten days. A result of his incredible feats, he was named the world's toughest athlete.
Fighting moose in Anchorage
"We quickly discovered that Lance was the most popular musher in the United States. He just went by the nickname The Legend. Lance always found himself in the most incredible situations. The first time I met him, he had to defend himself against a bull moose using only a ladle in the middle of downtown Anchorage," says director Finn-Erik Rognan.
While the documentary crew were filming Lance during a car race in Arizona, he suffered a severe crash. During the subsequent medical follow-up, a tumour was discovered close to Lance's lungs.
"Lance's life was far from easy, and he was struck by one tragedy after another. He nevertheless always took life with a smile, and that's one of the reasons for his popularity," says Rognan.
Two awards for best documentary
The Los Angeles Film Awards prize isn't the only award Wild Life has won. The film has also won ONIROS Film Awards and received accolades at the New York Film Awards and the Florence Film Awards.
For information on distribution for Wild Life - the Lance Mackey Story, please email Maverix at: linda@maverix.no.
Maverix has previously produced the television series Ice Cowboys, which has been broadcast in a number of countries. The series has an IMDb score of 9.2. Maverix has also produced other popular series, including Gutta på tur (7.5), Expedition Lothepus (8.5), Lothepus Camping (9.6), and the final season of Fjorden Cowboys (8.7), in addition to a wide range of live sports events in recent years.
Read all about the series Ice Cowboys.
Wild Life - The Lance Mackey story
Director: Finn-Erik Rognan
Written by: Finn-Erik Rognan and Dag Vidar Hopøy
Edited by: Dag Vidar Hopøy
Reporter: Greg Heister
Producers: Linda Nordheim, Ola Gråberg and Jan Ove Årsæther
120 minutes.
Region: Worldwide (English language)
About the Los Angeles Film Awards
Los Angeles Film Awards (LAFA) is a competition for filmmakers and screenwriters from all over the world. LAFA is the first festival to receive 400+ five-star reviews on FilmFreeway, out of over 8,000 film festivals. LAFA's mission is to promote films and be another step up in the filmmakers' careers.
About the Oniros Film Awards
The Oniros Film Awards® is an International Monthly IMDb Qualifying competition with a public Screening Event held in New York City every three months, celebrating films and filmmakers from all around the world. Our mission is to discover high quality and ambitious films, to promote filmmakers' works and to be the next step in their career. The Oniros Film Awards® is all about Dreams (ὄνειρος = oneiros, Dream in Ancient Greek) and is conceived by Dreamers for Dreamers. Dream Big, always!
About Maverix
At Maverix, we have brought together exceptionally experienced advertising professionals and journalists, as well as strategists, advisors, directors, and designers. A maverick does not follow well-trodden paths but rather blazes new trails to reach the goal. Creativity is not an end in itself, but a means to create growth and strong results. At Maverix, we do not necessarily follow the book or established truths, but challenge both ourselves and our clients to create value.
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