Man in Motion: Rick Hansen's world tour becomes a feature film at VIFF

Man in Motion: The Rick Hansen Story, a documentary about the legendary Canadian Paralympian's globe-spanning fundraising journey, will premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival this week before a Canada-wide theatrical release in November.

The film screens at VIFF on October 3 at the Vancouver Playhouse with a post-screening Q&A with Hansen, and again on October 6 at Fifth Avenue Cinema. The 45th VIFF runs October 1 to 11 with 160-plus feature films. Theatrical release follows on November 1.

Directed by Vancouver's Adrian Buitenhuis and produced by Vancouver producer Derik Murray of Network Entertainment alongside Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort, the film chronicles Hansen's 26-month Man in Motion Tour. From March 1985 to May 1987, Hansen wheeled 40,000 kilometres through 34 countries to raise awareness for people with disabilities and fund spinal cord injury research. Hansen, now 69, grew up in Williams Lake and lost the use of his legs in a car accident at age 15. He wheeled 50 to 85 kilometres per day, starting each morning with pain levels around 7 to 8 on a scale of 10.

The documentary draws on cassette diaries Hansen and his wife Amanda — who served as the tour's physiotherapist — recorded throughout the journey. The film captures both Hansen's voice at the time and present-day reflections. It shows moments of near-quitting, particularly during a gruelling East Coast stretch of the United States with minimal local support. Hansen credits Terry Fox, who quit his Marathon of Hope after 143 days due to cancer, with inspiring him to continue. By the time the tour reached Cape Spear, Newfoundland—the most easterly point in North America—on August 24, 1986, it had raised only $172,000. But by the time Hansen returned to Vancouver on May 22, 1987, the total had grown to $26 million. The Rick Hansen Foundation has since raised half a billion dollars.

The film emphasizes the role of Hansen's team, the Road Crew, in keeping the effort moving. "It's not just a 'man in motion,' it's a 'team in motion,'" Buitenhuis said Vancouver. The cassette recordings and archival footage offer an unfiltered perspective of a gruelling physical and emotional journey—Hansen doesn't shy away from recorded frustrations. As Buitenhuis notes, "I don't think it was hard to bring that drama to the scenes because it was truth. It wasn't fiction."