“A profound, beautiful, enduring, mysterious, and unexpectedly moving film.”
— Robinson Devor (Director, Zoo)
“A visually stunning reflection on coming-of-age while exploring the vast promise of the American landscape.”
— Rodrigo Reyes (Director, 499)
Straddling the line between documentary and fiction, For Thousands of Miles is a unique road movie covering one man's bicycle journey across America in search of something meaningful.
Included on The Best Films of 2015 According to 11 Indie Filmmakers and NoFilmSchool via Letterbox.
“Part of him had been expecting something profound to be waiting at the ocean… but, in many ways, it never came.”
Read Director’s Statement →
Synopsis
The story of a young man’s bicycle ride across the Northern US; Larry McKurtis, at the age of 26, left for the Atlantic ocean, leaving behind the small town he had always known, in search of new things; new people; new places.
In his mind, he had always imagined the road to be full of adventure and happenstance, which it was, but in ways that were often unnoticeable to the passing traffic; the summer sunsets would burn colors in the horizon Larry would later be unable to describe; the fireflies would weave in and out of the tall midwest fields, with no one there to share in every detail of the world around him. The loneliness of the open road left him feeling alive, awake - himself in ways he was never able to be before.
After 64 days, he reached the Atlantic, an ocean he had never before seen - and just as quickly and quietly as his trip had begun, it was over. His bed was just the way he had left it, the small town he had spent all his life in hadn’t changed an inch, but everything and everyone around him felt foreign for the first time.
What the young man never anticipated, was just how long his trip would go on after the road had come to an end.
“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.”
Filmmakers
Writer/Director
Mike Ambs has helped create expansive stop-motion films for Disney (Blank), Google (Cranes in Love), brought to life a strange, violent world from the mind of Tyler the Creator (Okaga), executive produced a number of indie short films, and co-founded the Bureau of Creative Works.
A self-taught filmmaker, Mike’s first full-length film, For Thousands of Miles, was inspired by his own 4,200-mile cross-country bicycle trip. The documentary was selected as one of ten projects for the IFP labs in NYC, and features an original score by Eluvium.
Producer
A photographer first and foremost, Erica Hampton’s involvement in filmmaking has focused largely on producing and story.
A co-founder of the Bureau of Creative Works, her eye for spotting talent and nurturing filmmakers has earned her a reputation in the indie film world, having helped green light over 15 short film productions in recent years.
Larry McKurtis
A towering figure with the heart of a poet. For Thousands of Miles would be nothing without Larry’s endless drive.
6 years of production in 6 minutes
This brief video covers the earliest stages of pre-production from discovering Larry, through filming between the west and east coast, the long and trying editing process, FTOM being selected by IFP doc labs, to meeting new filmmaking friends along the way.
If you’re looking for easy insight into the behind-the-scenes of this 100% indie film, this is as good a place to start as any.
Director’s Statement
This documentary has been an overwhelming force in my life, a labor-of-love 7 years in the making. For Thousands of Miles was inspired by my own 4,200-mile bicycle trip.
Which I took when I was just 21 years old. After 55 days of sleeping under the stars, I returned home to my small town. I couldn’t shake this strange feeling — a heartbreak almost — it lingered for years and years after the road.
It was this slow, disconnected, post-voyage experience that I wanted to visually and tonally articulate.
The film is less a road-trip film, and more a reflection on what the road comes to represent.
Original Score
Matthew Cooper releases cinematic, ambient, classical, experimental, pop and electronic music under the name Eluvium.
I knew long before production even began that this film would rely heavily on music; if not for any other reason than the main idea behind the film boiled down to two simple but opposing things:
1) the wide, birds-eye, in-the-moment view of a biker alone on the open road, pushing against the wind, and 2) the sound of missing that experience long after it’s over.
Full soundtrack listing
Trk 1 Open 8:32
Trk 2 Currents 7:08
Trk 3 Movements 8:56
Trk 4 Small Positives 8:16
Trk 5 Throughout 4:48
Trk 6 For Thousands of Miles 9:12
Matthew is quite enthusiastic about music combined with the moving image, and enjoys creating original compositions for film and television.
His interests include science, nature, music, books, film, wine, and tea.
He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, artist Jeannie Lynn Paske, and their two giant dogs.
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“Amazing storytelling via imagery and music and feeling. I've seen pretty much every cycling film over the last 10 years - and yours is so hugely unique.”
— Henry Abel (Central Oregon Trail Alliance)
More than 1,500 people helped make FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES a reality through their support. The feature film, which took 9 years to complete, is free to use for organizations such as ACA. The film is meant to spark a conversation about the value of long, trying journeys - and how they can have unexpected effects long after the road comes to an end.
Making-of
A five-part documentary series about the story behind For Thousands of Miles.
Our beloved Larry McKurtis is currently fighting a tough battle to save his life
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Our beloved Larry McKurtis is currently fighting a tough battle to save his life 〰️
“In an unforeseen succession of rapid victories, as of 11/17, Larry is no longer requiring ECMO and a ventilator to support his heart and lung functioning.
He remains on dialysis to support the shock that his kidneys have experienced on this journey, with no distinct timeline as of yet. But for the first time in 9-10 days, Kelly got to hear Larry’s voice and look into his eyes.”