Stefano and Lorenzo Montali are twins, cross country runners, and film makers. The St. Thomas Aquinas duo teamed up at their schools film festival and produced “The Runner” which ran away with the grand prize. Although the piece is mostly fictional there are some parts that the Montali’s have experienced. The preparation for the film began in January nearly four months in advance. Lorenzo says the storyline came from their knowledge of the sport and their senior captain who sustained an injury right before the regional meet.
“He broke his ankle and it kind of felt like he was running with us at states even though he couldn’t run with us. That is why the last line of the movie says even though they say I’d never walk again. They never said anything about running.”
Part of the young film makers’ goals was to create a piece that showcased their passion for running but at the same time appealed to a vast audience. This isn’t their first rodeo though. The Montali’s started making movies with their cousins at age eight but got serious when they attended a two week summer camp at age 11 and 12. During that time they began experimenting with shooting, editing, and making documentaries. They’ve since made several short films and documentaries over the years and Lorenzo says this is by far the best one yet.
The runners behind "The Runner"
“It definitely is because we had the proper equipment. Last year we got second in the film festival and we got some prize money so we went out and got a better camera and started using it and filming stuff. We’ve never had any formal training it’s just doing it and getting better over the years. It’s just learning as you go.”
Those last two lines sum up their running careers as well; no formal training, getting better over the years, and learning as they go. The juniors have seen their times drop a great deal over the past three seasons. Stefano says they never ran before high school and never did a 5k until their dad brought them into the sport.
“Our dad was getting into running so we would all go on mile runs and stuff. When we were going into high school we went to sports night at our school and I remember talking to Coach Butler and a couple of guys on our team. The first day we ran a loop that was a mile and we couldn’t even do one of those and I remember thinking how am I going to do this. The guys were saying how rewarding the sport is so I decided to stick with it. We’ve both been getting better, progressing a lot, and we’ll all be seniors next year.”
The brothers saying being twins has brought them closer together in movie making, cross country, and in life.
“It’s kind of cool having someone doing the same thing stuff as you. It’s like having a friend that’s always there and that knows everything.
And now for your feature presentation... "The Runner"