What Is Chasing Red? The 2015 Documentary About the Running of the Bulls

Chasing Red is the original Chasing Red film: a 2015 feature documentary about the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. It was directed by Dennis Clancey, a runner himself, and follows four runners through the eight runs of the 2012 Festival of San Fermín.

The film tells their story through what they actually did on the run route, filmed with cameras placed along the street. It won Best of the Fest at the LA Indie Film Festival in 2015, the festival’s highest award, and is distributed by Magnolia Pictures.

A new story about Pamplona

Chasing Red set out to tell a new story about Pamplona. When Dennis arrived, the documentaries about the run told essentially one story: people who had been going for decades, retelling how Americans and other foreigners, known in Pamplona as guiris, started running there. Dennis wanted to show the runners of his own time instead.

“I wanted to capture who is running now, who is doing exciting things on that run route, a new generation of runners.”

Dennis Clancey, director of Chasing Red

The runners

The film follows four runners through the eight runs of San Fermín 2012.

Dennis Clancey

Dennis first ran in 2007. By the time the film was shot in 2012 he had been running for about six years, and he was 29, about to turn 30. He still runs in Pamplona every July and teaches first-time runners through Encierro, the runner-led company he owns.

David Ubeda

David Ubeda grew up in the culture of bull running, and the film needed someone who had. At the time he was working as a solar engineer.

A few hours after each run, runners in Pamplona go to the photo shops to look at the photos of that morning. Foto Alberto and Foto Mena are still there. Foto Auma, on Plaza del Castillo, has since closed. It was one of the main places to go, and through its stills you could really study moments in time of the run.

“David Ubeda is one of the runners whose run I had studied through photographs over the years. Then, talking to a Spanish runner one night, I realized that David actually lived in Arizona. He was living in Tucson at the time, so we met up for lunch, and we have since become very good friends.”

Dennis Clancey

Dennis was living in Arizona too, and David became one of the four runners in the film.

Bill Hillmann

Bill Hillmann and Dennis became friends early on. They started running around the same time.

Josiah Lloyd

Josiah Lloyd is a painter. Dennis met him for the first time in person in Pamplona.

Telling the story through the run itself

Chasing Red is built from footage of the runners on the street, not from interviews about it.

“What I had seen as typical of documentaries in Pamplona at the time was you show the most crazy footage you can, and then you have people interviewed to talk about what that footage looks like. Chasing Red takes a tougher line. We wanted to tell the story of the runs through the runners’ actual actions on the run route.”

Dennis Clancey

That required a lot of cameras in a lot of places. There is always the uncertainty of whether a particular runner will be near the bulls at the moment he passes a camera. And you don’t want to coach runners on exactly where to be with the bulls, because the run is dangerous enough on its own.

So the runners were never given things they had to accomplish. Often they didn’t know precisely where the cameras would be. The crew knew where each runner intended to be, and went from there.

The film’s introduction to David Ubeda is his run on July 8, 2012. Several cameras are on him, one of them on a balcony above, and he has no idea where any of them are. It shows how consistent a runner he is.

Why the director ran

Dennis had never seen a documentary that was actually made by a runner. His sense was that directors felt a kind of responsibility to the runners, and didn’t want to ask anything of them that was unnatural to what they did. His idea was that if he put himself in the run, he would know for himself. He is not someone to be a spectator.

Dennis had distinguished himself as a runner in the years before filming. But he also knew that the cameras, and plans for certain runners on certain days in certain places, would put pressure on the runners. He wanted to know what that pressure was, because he would be in it too, placing the same pressure on himself to be in a certain place at a certain time with the bulls. It is a very difficult thing to ask of anyone, and he felt some responsibility for it.

How it was paid for

The first money for the film was raised on Kickstarter. Additional money for post-production came later, through Indiegogo.

Premiere, festivals and Nepal

Chasing Red premiered in 2015. At the LA Indie Film Festival it won Best of the Fest, the festival’s highest award.

The film went on to screen at a number of festivals, including the Newport Beach Film Festival, which ran April 23 to 30, 2015. On April 25, in the middle of the festival, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal.

“I ended up volunteering to go to Nepal with an NGO to respond with medical teams. I’m not a medical provider, but I’m an operations expert, and I spent a month in the Himalaya doing disaster response.”

Dennis Clancey

It took him away from the film for a time.

Release and where to watch

Chasing Red screened at AMC and Angelika theaters in Nashville, Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Chicago, and also in Mexico City. It first launched online on Vimeo. Magnolia Pictures then took on its distribution, which put it on nearly every platform in its market.

Today you can watch Chasing Red free with ads on The Roku Channel, free with a library card on Hoopla, or rent or buy it on Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Google TV and YouTube. Availability changes, so the current list and links are in the where to watch section of this site.

Reception and Chasing Red today

Chasing Red was reviewed by Film Threat, the Chicago Sun-Times and Indie Wrap. Film Threat’s Bobby LePire called it “fascinating.” Its festival award, theatrical screenings and distribution by Magnolia Pictures have kept it in front of audiences since its release, and it remains one of the few feature documentaries about the encierro made from inside the run.

More than a decade after it was filmed, Chasing Red is still part of the run. Every July in Pamplona, people recognize the film, and recognize Dennis and the rest of the cast who still run there.

The film and the phrase

The title has taken on a meaning of its own. What the phrase means, where it came from and why bulls never chased the color at all are in What does “chasing red” mean?

Questions people ask

What is Chasing Red about?

Chasing Red is a 2015 documentary about the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. It follows four runners, Dennis Clancey, Bill Hillmann, David Ubeda and Josiah Lloyd, through the eight runs of the 2012 Festival of San Fermín.

Who directed Chasing Red?

Dennis Clancey, who ran in the film himself. He has run with the bulls since 2007.

Is this the original Chasing Red?

Yes. Chasing Red (2015) is the original Chasing Red film, the feature documentary about the running of the bulls directed by Dennis Clancey and distributed by Magnolia Pictures.

How long is Chasing Red?

57 minutes.

Did Chasing Red win any awards?

It won Best of the Fest at the LA Indie Film Festival in 2015, the festival’s highest award.

Where can I watch Chasing Red?

Free with ads on The Roku Channel, free with a library card on Hoopla, or to rent or buy on Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Google TV and YouTube. See the where to watch section for current links.