International Premiere | Out of Competition
Hong Kong, 2025, 101’, English/Cantonese
Directed by: Robin Lee
Cinematography (color): Robin Lee, Oliver Chiu
Editing: Robin Lee
Music: Jason Tse
Producer: Ben Lee
Cast: Andre Blumberg, Sarah Pemberton, Stone Tsang, Tom Robertshaw, Salomon Wettstein, Hyun Chan-chung, Law Kai-pong, William Hayward, Nikki Han, Ryan Blair, Mark Agnew, Jacky Leung
Date of First Release in Territory: January 2nd, 2025
Many have the impression that Hong Kong is an asphalt jungle, made up purely of urban sprawl. However, a large majority of the city’s land is actually undeveloped nature. Hong Kong has hundreds of kilometres of well-maintained hiking trails, and it is home to a passionate hiking community that grew even bigger during the Covid pandemic, when the mountain trails were believed to be the best and possibly safest places for exercise.
It’s because of the city’s passion for the great outdoors that an ultramarathon like the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge is possible. Founded in 2012 by Andre Blumberg, a German expat living in Hong Kong, the HK Four Trails sees challengers run all four of Hong Kong’s major mountain trails – covering 298 kilometres in distance and 14,500 metres in elevation – in under 72 hours. The challenge comes with no cash prize and no medal, but it does come with personal glory and the respect of fellow trail runners. In its 14-year history, only 104 runners have completed the race, making the HK Four Trails one of the toughest ultramarathons in the world.
Hong Kong-based outdoors sport videographer Robin Lee first filmed the race in 2016 for the 45-minute documentary Breaking 60: Challenging the Impossible, which showed runners aiming to earn the title of “Finisher” by completing the run in 60 hours. Lee was invited back by Blumberg several years later to make another documentary about runners trying to complete the race in 50 hours. However, Lee rejected the idea, opting for a different approach to the marathon for a feature-length film.
The result is Four Trails, an immensely entertaining sequel that covers the race’s 2021 pandemic-era edition, which only accepted past participants. Instead of focusing only on the challenges of the race itself, which doesn’t take much time to explain, Lee takes his time to introduce the stakes for each of the runners. There are favourites such as Stone Tsang, Tom Robertshaw and Salomon Wettstein, all former “Finishers” who returned to attempt better finishing times. There is also Sarah Pemberton, who is attempting the marathon for an unprecedented fourth time, as well as Law Kai-pong, who is pushing his limits by running just several weeks after suffering a serious injury.
The challenge of finishing the race may be enough for a short film or a sports channel highlight reel, but Four Trails needs to cover the personal stakes of these runners to keep audiences captivated for 100 minutes. It’s also Lee’s human interest angle that provides the impact of his film’s third-act twist (don’t look up the marathon on Wikipedia if you want to be surprised). The hard work of shaping an engrossing narrative is important for any film, and it’s especially hard when Lee had to do so by sorting out over 200 hours of footage. The human factor is probably the biggest reason why the film earned the word of mouth that made it a surprise box office hit, and Lee’s nomination for Best Editing at the Hong Kong Film Awards is well deserved.
And then there are the visuals. Utilising his knowledge of the trails and his experience in sports videography, Lee and his team capture stunning bird’s-eye views of both Hong Kong and the trails that are seldom seen even by locals. As the cliché goes, seeing a single one-minute montage of the trails on the big screen will easily do a better job of highlighting Hong Kong’s beauty than any hundred-page travel guide. Four Trails is not just a tribute to the resilience of endurance-testing athletes; it’s a love letter to the city that gave birth to the race.
Robin Lee
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Robin Lee has worked as a videographer and filmmaker in the adventure sport industry for over a decade, working on ski films and other video projects for industry leaders.
Four Trails is his first feature-length film.
FILMOGRAPHY
2025 – Four Trails