Melbourne Documentary Film Festival: ‘Skid Row Marathon’
Skid Row Marathon returns to screens with fresh context on how a single running club keeps reshaping lives years after its debut at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.
When a criminal court judge starts a running club on L.A.’s notorious skid row, lives begin to change. This inspiring documentary follows five runners as they rise from the mean streets of L.A. to run marathons around the world, fighting the pull of homelessness and addiction at every turn. Their story is one of hope, friendship, and dignity. The film has now traveled to nearly 30 festivals and picked up additional audience and jury honors since its initial run of 25 festivals and 22 awards.
Skid Row Marathon was directed by Mark Hayes and produced by Gabriele Hayes and Doug Blush. Blush is an award-winning producer, editor, and director whose credits include 2018 Academy Award Best Documentary nominee Icarus, 2012 nominee The Invisible War, and 2013 Oscar-winner 20 Feet From Stardom. We sat down with Producer Gabi Hayes to chat running, movies, and Melbourne.
Post-Release Festival Screenings and Recognition
The documentary kept finding new audiences long after the Melbourne dates. Additional screenings at Boulder International Film Festival and special presentations into 2026 confirmed that the story still resonates beyond the original festival circuit. Awards tallies edged toward 30 as programmers continued to program the film for both urban and regional crowds.
Legacy and Ongoing Impact of the Skid Row Running Club
Founded in 2012, the Skid Row Running Club now holds regular Saturday sessions and has drawn more than 150 active members in recent years. Thousands of participants have passed through its doors, and Judge Mitchell regularly fields calls from organizers who want to start similar groups elsewhere. The club’s endurance shows that the film captured a movement already gaining traction rather than a one-off experiment.
Judge Craig Mitchell's Continued Work
Judge Mitchell still leads the Saturday workouts and has logged dozens of marathons, including international races. His personal count reached the mid-70s in recent reports, yet he continues to recruit new runners from the same streets that first inspired the project. The consistency of his presence has become part of the club’s identity and a living extension of the documentary’s message.
Current Availability and Where to Watch
Viewers no longer need a festival pass. The film streams or rents on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Tubi with ads, The Roku Channel, and YouTube. That spread replaces the earlier plan for a single Australian theatrical day followed by digital rollout, giving global audiences immediate access without travel.
Where did you get the idea for Skid Row Marathon? We read an article in the newspaper in March of 2013 before the LA Marathon about this judge who started a running club on Skid Row for homeless people, drug addicts, and criminals and trains them to run marathons around the world. When did you begin production on Skid Row Marathon? First we had to run with them for 4-5 weeks to gain their trust. After that we started shooting the runs and interviews. It was late April of 2013. It took over 4 years to complete. Why is it important that this story is told now? Homelessness exists in every country. It is important that we do something about it. Each of us can do something. Judge Mitchell took it upon himself to start a running club where we have the highest concentration of homelessness in LA (Skid Row) and he has helped change hundreds of lives. It inspired us to tell his story to give people a second chance. Tell us about your involvement in MDFF. We were invited by the Director Lyndon to come to the festival and are very excited since this will be our first trip. What’s your experience of the indie film scene in Australia at the moment? Not too much unfortunately. We only hear from Australian friends living in LA that funding is much easier to get in Australia than in the US. Our project was totally self-funded. We didn’t get any grants. What’s your next project? We are working on a narrative film, a romantic comedy set in the Cold War about an American picking up an East German hitchhiker and trying to get her out of East Germany. Where can our readers see Skid Row Marathon? There will be a one-day release in Australia this fall (October or November), and then a digital release after. See the movie Saturday, July 27th at Cinema Nova at 8:45PM. Get tickets here.
The conversation with Gabriele Hayes still anchors the film’s origin story, yet the club’s longevity and the movie’s steady availability now supply the practical next chapter. Skid Row Marathon was directed by Mark Hayes and produced by Gabriele Hayes and Doug Blush. Blush is an award-winning producer, editor, and director whose credits include 2018 Academy Award Best Documentary nominee Icarus, 2012 nominee The Invisible War, and 2013 Oscar-winner 20 Feet From Stardom. We sat down with Producer Gabi Hayes to chat running, movies, and Melbourne. Where did you get the idea for Skid Row Marathon? We read an article in the newspaper in March of 2013 before the LA Marathon about this judge who started a running club on Skid Row for homeless people, drug addicts, and criminals and trains them to run marathons around the world. When did you begin production on Skid Row Marathon? First we had to run with them for 4-5 weeks to gain their trust. After that we started shooting the runs and interviews. It was late April of 2013. It took over 4 years to complete. Why is it important that this story is told now? Homelessness exists in every country. It is important that we do something about it. Each of us can do something. Judge Mitchell took it upon himself to start a running club where we have the highest concentration of homelessness in LA (Skid Row) and he has helped change hundreds of lives. It inspired us to tell his story to give people a second chance. Tell us about your involvement in MDFF. We were invited by the Director Lyndon to come to the festival and are very excited since this will be our first trip. What’s your experience of the indie film scene in Australia at the moment? Not too much unfortunately. We only hear from Australian friends living in LA that funding is much easier to get in Australia than in the US. Our project was totally self-funded. We didn’t get any grants. What’s your next project? We are working on a narrative film, a romantic comedy set in the Cold War about an American picking up an East German hitchhiker and trying to get her out of East Germany. Where can our readers see Skid Row Marathon? There will be a one-day release in Australia this fall (October or November), and then a digital release after. See the movie Saturday, July 27th at Cinema Nova at 8:45PM. Get tickets here.
