By Karen List
Bill Gallagher, class of 2005, is an independent documentary filmmaker who lives in Spain. He was director, editor and producer of “Runner: One Man’s Journey from Refugee to Olympian,” a doc that has won 10 awards around the world, including “Best of the Fest” at the Woods Hole Film Festival and both Audience Award and Jury Award at the Naples International Film Festival.
Described as “a powerfully inspirational tale that could tide you over until the next Olympics,” the documentary tells the story of Guor Maker, who escaped war-torn Sudan as a young boy and, after beginning a new life in America, became an Olympic athlete. The film earned 100% on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer. You can watch the trailer here.
Bill also was the line producer for the Academy Award-nominated documentary “If a Tree Falls” (Sundance) and production manager on the documentary “Racing Dreams” (Tribeca’s Best Documentary). Both films were in theaters and broadcast on the BBC and PBS.
But back to “Runner.” Bill was sitting at a café in Pamplona, Spain, when he first read Guor’s story and—like any good journalist would--he said to himself.
"I need to talk to this guy." And the rest is history.