Polly’s GlobalWalk
The Documentary- Project Description
For more information contact:
PJ Letofsky
Newcastle Productions
108 S. Croft Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90048
323-653-3414
pjletofsky@pollysglobalwalk.com
www.globalwalk.org
watch the trailer
in windows media
part 1 part 2 part 3
or quicktime movie
quicktime movie
Polly's GlobalWalk- the story
On August 1, 1999, Polly Letofsky left her home in Vail, Colorado, and headed west.
She traveled across 4 continents, 22 countries and over 14,000 miles -- by foot.
As an awareness campaign for breast cancer, friends, survivors
and well-wishers around the world came out to walk with her.
Every day strangers welcomed her into their homes, offered food,
accommodation, and friendship. The world had embraced her.
But it was never an easy road. Every day Polly struggled
with adversity: floods, earthquakes, wild fires, wind storms,
angry dogs, languages, curious crowds, over zealous men,
a couple muggings, even religious riots.
Over the miles her journey became much more than a fundraising
event, it became a journey personifying the spirit of commitment
and perseverance that will compel you to
follow the road to your wildest dreams - one step at a time.
Since she was just a child growing up in Minneapolis,
Polly Letofsky always wanted to see the world.
On August 1, 1999, she left her home in Colorado,
to travel through 22 countries, across four continents,
and over 14,000 miles. By walking.
Polly's GlobalWalk documentary will detail how strangers passed her
village to village all around the world inviting her into their homes where they would chat over home-cooked meals about their lives on the rhubarb farm and their hobby collecting antique toasters. Across four continents she had dinner conversations with teachers, hospital administrators, and pig farmers. She stayed with country singers, auctioneers, and olive growers. There was the poet in Ireland, the cartoonist in Scotland, the female bomb maker in Australia. But in the middle of Polly's five-year journey, the whole planet suddenly shifted on its axis: Watching TV at dinnertime with a kind Muslim family in Malaysia, they watched in horror as September 11 flung us all into a crossroads in world history.
Polly suddenly found herself discovering the world - especially America - from an historically unique angle.
She realized she could never retrace her steps home - they'd vanished in a tide of world events.
She quickly changed her strut for the next leg through an Islamic Asia, India, the Middle East, and a simmering Europe.
Polly's GlobalWalk documentary chronicles her personal journey through assorted
cultures in her own voice through videos, photos, media, and interviews with her closest
supporters. There is much to learn from this courageous adventure by a young woman
walking by herself.
She tackled the daily challenges like where to eat, sleep, adverse weather, the multitude of languages,
cultural no-no's, and the relentless organizational and logistical tasks
of mapping out her route or the simple task of just getting up every morning
in a strange place and heading alone down an unfamiliar road.
We talk with the people who were closest to her throughout the walk.
Sometimes serious (9/11), sometimes funny, always inspirational, the documentary
follows Polly's GlobalWalk through the mountain storms of Colorado, the Ute Indian
Sweat Lodge in Arizona, and the earthquake in California. The overseas journey takes
us across New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Turkey, Greece,
Italy, Germany, Luxemburg, Belgium, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, back to
New York, through Canada, to her hometown of Minneapolis, and back to Colorado,
where it all began. We cover the basic questions like why and how many pairs of shoes did it take,
to how this Midwest American girl tackled a rapidly changing world
and ultimately finding what her American heritage meant to her.