MiracleFeet, the global nonprofit working to eliminate untreated clubfoot (a common birth defect, affecting an estimated 200,000 newborns each year, that causes the feet to twist inward) has released Miles to Miracle, the first animated short film drawn entirely by real footsteps.
The short film, created by Klick Health and inspired by a real girl named Miracle, turns 597 Strava routes into short film about girl born with clubfoot and how access to treatment transformed her life. The outlines of the running routes form birds, legs, a young girl and her family, and even the name of the film’s title character, Miracle.
Participants recorded runs, jogs, and walks using the GPS-tracking app Strava across 2,792 miles to animate the stop-motion film. The runners’ movement also shaped the film’s sound. Authentic instrumentation was layered with percussion captured from real strides.
“Miles to Miracle shows what mobility makes possible: the chance to walk, run, play, go to school, and thrive,” stated Daphne de Souza Lima Sorensen, CEO of MiracleFeet. “By inviting the running community to help create this film, our goal is to draw attention to the fact that clubfoot is highly treatable, yet too many children still grow up without care simply because of where they are born. A simple treatment is all that stands between a life of disability, stigma, and exclusion and one of mobility, independence, and opportunity.”
“As runners, we never take for granted the ability to move,” added Nicholas Synan, chief running officer of Upper East Side Run Club, who helped bring runners into the project. “Being able to have every step go toward a greater impact is really special to us.”
“Movement had to drive every part of this film,” commented Dan Macena, associate creative director at Klick Health. “By turning Strava art into a stop-motion animated story – and turning real footsteps into part of the score – a community of runners helped tell a story powered by their own steps.”
“Because the routes remain available on Strava, anyone can run or walk in the filmmakers’ footsteps and connect with the film in a personal way,” added Kate Maldjian, associate creative director.
Nine of the film’s frames have been released in a featured collection called the MiracleFeet Circuit. While all 597 completed routes remain available on Strava, the MiracleFeet Circuit invites runners of every pace and ambition to retrace select routes, including The Leaf (a 3-mile fun run), The Bird (a classic 10K), and even The Stride (a 7.72-mile challenge) to help raise awareness and funds for clubfoot treatment.
The film aims to bring awareness to the problem of clubfoot left untreated. In low- and middle-income countries, 80% of children born with clubfoot lack access to care, even though treatment is low-cost and nonsurgical.
“Those numbers are devastating because clubfoot is treatable without surgery,” stated Dr Joshua E. Hyman, MD, orthopedic surgery at CUIMC/New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. “With early diagnosis and proper Ponseti treatment, children born with clubfoot can achieve functional, pain-free mobility. The tragedy is not that treatment does not exist. It is that too many children still cannot access it.”
The campaign includes a website for donations to help change the future for children with clubfoot, and to explore the routes that powered the film – including the MiracleFeet Circuit.
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