Odyssey Film Festival and Four Trails Preview

From now till 30 September, Odyssey, an independent film festival focusing on engaging with Greater China, will present its 2025 programme through both in-person screenings and online options. Each year, the festival explores a unique theme, and this year’s theme is “Sports.” The theme was chosen to uphold the Olympic spirit, celebrating “the sense of self, discovery, and values revealed through journeys of growth.” These ideas are reflected in the films selected for competition as well as throughout the programme.

Across 10 shorts and 8 features are in competition, including the UK premieres of Invisible Summit, Hali and Laisheng, Tick-Tock Rock, and the shorts Dive in Playground, Monsoon Blue, Bow and Rise, December Rumbles, I Have No Legs, and I Must Run, as well as Tuva Youngster. Several of the shorts are also available to rent online, so if you miss the chance to see them on the big screen, you can enjoy them from the comfort of your own home.

Additionally, the in-competition selection at Odyssey features a variety of classic titles like Free Solo, Enter the Dragon, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In collaboration with Everyman Cinemas, you can also view films focusing on Hong Kong’s new talents, such as the remarkable The Way We Talk, alongside Fire Room, Land on Ice, This is Not the End, and Between Ears. Within the Diplomacy section, there are six films available online from around the world that explore the theme of sport in their own unique ways, including Tomorrow Never Dies and The Karate Kid (2010).

There is something for everyone, and more than what has been mentioned, but one aspect we haven’t discussed is the opening film. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to see an early screening of Four Trails.

Four Trails is a documentary that follows an annual endurance event in Hong Kong created by Andre Blumberg. The challenge requires participants to hike four trails across Hong Kong, totalling nearly 300 km. To complete the challenge, one must do so in under 60 hours, and to survive it, under 72 hours. After the 2021 competition, we see past challengers who have either completed or survived returning to achieve the impossible—becoming the first to complete it twice—while others aim even higher, seeking to finish in under 50 hours.

Directed by Robin Lee, Four Trails is one of the most captivating and stunning documentaries I have ever watched. It features beautiful cinematography that expertly captures the physical endurance of the event by showing every moment of heartbreak and triumph. Watching athletes nearly pass out from exhaustion yet still want to carry on is nothing short of awe-inspiring and downright madness. Additionally, the cinematography showcases the picturesque locations the athletes encounter on these trails through flawless drone photography.

The strongest aspect of the film, however, is the editing; it cleverly cuts between many athletes, each with their own backgrounds, goals, and motivations. With the sheer number of subjects, it could easily become confusing to follow. However, Four Trails is edited with such precision that each subject gets their moment to shine, making the film easy to follow, as we are given sufficient time with each before moving on to the next. There is also an incredible moment where there’s a meta-aspect of the film’s editing that left me in sheer awe.

Perfectly encapsulating the sport theme, Four Trails is the perfect opening film for this film festival. A true one-of-a-kind documentary that showcases personal growth and discovery. Never have I seen a documentary like Four Trails, and it is easily one of the best documentaries I have ever seen.