The victory is persistence, not triumph
HOLLYWOOD PREMIERE
Indiewood Film Festival - September 15, 2026 - TCL Chinese Theater 4, Hollywood, California
Indiewood Film Festival - September 15, 2026 - TCL Chinese Theater 4, Hollywood, California
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2026 | MUSIC SHORT
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The Story
LOGLINE
A poetic music short exploring resilience, memory, and the quiet courage required to keep moving forward through every season of life. SYNOPSIS
In a stirring testament to the human spirit, Grammy® award-winning legend Roberta Flack, confined to a wheelchair after having two strokes, delivers her final full recording. Far beyond the grueling endurance of the world's longest footrace, Running is a profound meditation on resilience, persistence, and the quiet power to keep moving forward despite life's greatest obstacles. Cast
STARRING
Roberta Flack (lead vocals) Crew
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Music & lyrics © 2026 Michael A. Levine | United States | 4 mins
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Official Poster (2026)
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Gallery
Technical Details & Assets
SOUND: Dolby Surround 96kHz 5.1
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
RATING: PG
AVAILABLE: DCP | ProRes 422 HQ
SUBTITLES: English
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
RATING: PG
AVAILABLE: DCP | ProRes 422 HQ
SUBTITLES: English
Director's Statement
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I have always been drawn to stories that ask what remains when certainty is stripped away. Whether confronting loss, displacement, memory, mortality, or the aftermath of historical catastrophe, my work returns repeatedly to the same question: how do human beings continue when circumstances seem to offer every reason to stop? As a film, Running emerged from that question.
At first glance, Michael Levine's song evokes endurance through the metaphor of a race. Yet what interested me was not competition, achievement, or the crossing of a finish line. The longer I lived with Levine's music and lyrics, the more I came to see Running as a meditation on persistence itself: the quiet, oft-unseen act of moving forward despite hardship, disappointment, disability, aging, grief, and the inexorable passage of time. Moreover, Roberta Flack's participation in Running gives the work an added emotional resonance. Her voice carries not only the song's meaning, but the weight of a remarkable life devoted to artistic expression. In her performance, endurance is no longer an abstract idea; it becomes a lived reality. |
Rather than telling a conventional story in Running, I thus chose to create a visual meditation. The film moves through different stages of life, embodied by a woman at different time periods and whose experiences reflect universal human realities. The imagery is intentionally poetic, seeking not to explain the music but to enter into dialog with it. Light, color, movement, and gesture become the language through which the film explores memory, resilience, vulnerability, and hope.
Cinema often celebrates extraordinary achievements. Yet the greater miracle may be found in ordinary persistence: the decision to continue loving, creating, believing, and moving forward when no reward is guaranteed. For me, Running is ultimately about that mystery. Not the finish line. Not victory. But the grace of continuing despite all adversities. The victory is persistence, not triumph. 
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Producers' Statement
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Running is a cinematic music short that transcends the traditional music video format to become a profound meditation on resilience, persistence, and the indomitable human spirit. At its core is an original song written by Michael A. Levine for the film 3100: Run and Become directed by Sanjay Rawal. It is performed by the legendary Grammy® award-winning artist, Roberta Flack, in what marks her final full recording. Confined to a wheelchair after having two strokes, Flack delivers a performance of extraordinary emotional depth and quiet power, transforming personal adversity into universal inspiration. Co-produced with Marcelle Abela, Running fuses Levine's evocative music and lyrics with striking visuals that echo the rhythm of endurance and persistence.
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The four-minute short draws metaphorically from the world's longest footrace, while reaching far beyond physical exertion, exploring the quiet strength required to keep moving forward in the face of life's greatest obstacles. In an era marked by uncertainty and stillness, Running offers a stirring testament to the power of continued motion, both literal and metaphorical. It stands as a love letter to human perseverance and a tribute to Roberta Flack's enduring legacy. We are honored to bring this deeply personal, yet universally resonant, work to audiences in 2026.
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