The Hillbilly Scientist: Inside the World Premiere of the Lazarus Lake Documentary in Chamonix
Published September 2026 | Written by Andy Hood
Quick summary: The Hillbilly Scientist is the only authorised documentary on Gary Cantrell, the ultrarunning race director known as Lazarus Lake, founder of the Barkley Marathons. Directed by Paul Mellor and Luke Jarmey, it had its world premiere on 27 August 2026 at Cinema Vox in Chamonix during UTMB week.
In the lead up to UTMB week in Chamonix, my inbox was full of brand activation emails, shakeout runs and discount codes. One email stood out. Not a shakeout run, but a movie world premiere, and I happened to be in town for it.
The Hillbilly Scientist is a documentary that promises a unique insight into arguably the running world's most mythical man, Lazarus Lake, real name Gary Cantrell. Even how he came to adopt his pseudonym is shrouded in what I learned that night was pure Cantrell: a non committal way of neither confirming nor denying.
A Movie Premiere in the Middle of UTMB Week
Cantrell was there for a Q&A with producers Paul Mellor and Luke Jarmey, alongside his wife Sandra, who looked genuinely moved by the audience's reaction to the film. The Hillbilly Scientist is the only authorised documentary on Cantrell, and in the preamble Mellor explained that the crew found the experience of filming him both fascinating and frustrating. There were days he had no interest in having the crew present or answering questions, but Mellor and Jarmey knew this friction was part of the story rather than an obstacle to it, so they carried on filming, like uninvited guests who had decided to stay anyway. You feel that tension running through the finished film.
There was an atmosphere in the cinema that night that you could physically feel. A room full of runners who knew they were about to see something extraordinary, which is exactly why they had jumped on that email and secured one of the limited seats.
I am going to be careful here not to write a full synopsis. That would spoil it for you, and seeing it for yourself is what I would absolutely recommend.
I took my seat next to an employee of Mount to Coast, one of the sponsors of the film alongside Raidlight. Ian and I got chatting after the screening, and it turned out we shared a life experience that has changed how we both see the world, in ways neither of us expected going in.
Who Is Lazarus Lake? A Short Answer to a Question Laz Never Fully Answers
If you have landed on this article without knowing much about Lazarus Lake, here is the short version.
Cantrell is the race director behind the Barkley Marathons, a race held at Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee that has become the most talked about event in the sport, largely because so few people ever finish it. It is billed as 100 miles, but nobody really knows the true distance. Estimates from GPS watches smuggled onto the course have put finishers closer to 130 miles once the climbing and the off trail scrambling are accounted for, and Cantrell has never confirmed a number either way. The distance, like the man, stays shrouded in mystery unless you have run every step of it yourself.
There is no ballot window like the London Marathon and no stones based entry like UTMB. Nobody knows how the roughly 40 entrants are actually selected. When you open the entry window is a mystery, when the race takes place is a mystery, and the start itself is announced by Laz blowing a conch shell an hour or so out, then lighting a cigarette when it is finally time to run.
There is a glimpse of the spreadsheets on his office PC, but it is the room around him that tells the real story. Cantrell and Sandra sit surrounded by an office quite literally filled with thousands of pieces of paper. It is an utter mess by any normal standard. But it is a mess that only the mind of Cantrell understands. Ask him for one specific piece of information buried somewhere in that pile, and I would bet my last dollar he could put his hand on it in seconds. To the rest of us, chaos. To him, a filing system nobody else was ever meant to read.
He founded the race in 1986, and the course record still stands at just over 52 hours for men. In 2024, Jasmin Paris became the first woman ever to finish it, with 99 seconds to spare. If you want the fuller history of how Cantrell went from a modest club runner in 1970s Tennessee to the man behind ultrarunning's hardest race, that is a rabbit hole worth falling down another day. For now, what matters is this: the myth of Lazarus Lake and the man Cantrell are not quite the same person, and the gap between the two is exactly what this film is trying to close.
Inside the Vox Cinema: What the Q&A Revealed
One thing became clear fast. Questions put to Cantrell by the production team during filming were rarely met with a straight, coherent, comprehensive answer. That is the myth of the man, and we saw it again in the Q&A that followed the screening. Someone in the audience asked Laz outright why he limits the Barkley Marathons to forty entrants, and even with a room full of people waiting on his answer, he gave one that told you plenty about him without actually settling the question.
A glimpse inside the mind of a man you will never fully understand.
The Man Behind the Myth
There are childhood challenges in Cantrell's life, and none of them came as a total surprise once you sit with them. Our formative years shape how we see the world, and this film makes the Barkley Marathons make a lot more sense once you understand what Cantrell went through as a young man. It will never fully make sense. It probably only makes complete sense inside his own head. For the rest of us, it is up to us to find our own meaning in it, and yours will land differently to mine.
Worth saying plainly here, since it comes up whenever Cantrell's name does: he is not a universally loved figure. He has taken real criticism over the years, including for banning a Black Lives Matter team from one of his virtual races in 2020 and for Confederate flag displays at Barkley that went unaddressed in the same period. The production team told us the film does not shy away from this, and having sat through it, I can confirm they mean it. Whether it changes your view of him is between you and the film. I am not going to pretend that side of the story does not exist, but this article is about the film I saw, not a character reference.
Why This Film Found Me at the Right Time
I was quite moved by it. Having been through cancer in the past few years, it is something that has shaped me, changed my path, and put me on roads I would never have been on otherwise. Watching Cantrell become Lake spoke to me in a way it would not have done before that experience.
In the Q&A, I simply thanked Cantrell and the team behind the film, because it has genuinely helped me make more sense of some of the crazy runs I have done and have lined up: my solo 24 hour treadmill run, my solo 170 miles to Land's End, and my current plan to run an ultra on a plane and a train. Life shapes us. Experiences open pathways that would otherwise stay closed.
I have a need to see this film again. Not at home, not on Netflix if that is where it ends up, but in a room like the one in Chamonix, surrounded by runners, some of whose lives have also been shaped by experiences too deep and too personal to put into a caption.
Where to Watch The Hillbilly Scientist
The film had its world premiere on 27 August 2026 at Cinema Vox in Chamonix, with three sold out screenings during UTMB week, each followed by a Q&A with Cantrell. At the time of writing, the producers are in discussions with distribution partners, and the film is being taken to festivals and running events rather than to a single streaming home. If you want to see it, keep an eye on Mellor&Smith, the production company behind the film, and Raidlight, one of its sponsors, for festival dates near you. Mount to Coast, the film's other sponsor, is also worth a follow if you want to see how a young ultrarunning shoe brand ended up backing a documentary about the sport's most secretive race. And if you want to go deeper on the race itself once the mystery has properly got under your skin, the Barkley Marathons has no official website of its own, so this is as close as it gets to a starting point.
I have been careful in this piece, as I said earlier, not to give away too much about the film itself. The producers are still working out how it will be distributed, so for now it lives at festivals and running events. I would urge you to seek it out and watch it for yourself, and to see how Cantrell becomes Lake, because the real story is not a phonebook entry or any of the other tidy narratives floating around out there. The journey is far more complex than that, and I wonder if even Cantrell fully understands it himself.
FAQ
Who is Lazarus Lake?
Lazarus Lake is the nickname of Gary Cantrell, an American race director from Tennessee best known for creating the Barkley Marathons in 1986. He is also behind other notoriously tough events including Big's Backyard Ultra and the Last Annual Vol State Road Race.
What is The Hillbilly Scientist about?
The Hillbilly Scientist is the only authorised documentary on Cantrell, directed by Paul Mellor and Luke Jarmey. It moves beyond the Barkley Marathons itself to explore Cantrell's early life, his childhood struggles, and how he became the figure known as Lazarus Lake.
Where did The Hillbilly Scientist premiere?
The film had its world premiere on 27 August 2026 at Cinema Vox in Chamonix, France, during UTMB week, with three screenings each followed by a live Q&A with Cantrell.
Is The Hillbilly Scientist the same as the 2014 Barkley documentary?
No. The 2014 film, The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young, is about the race itself and the runners who attempt it. The Hillbilly Scientist is a different, more recent film focused on Cantrell the person rather than the race.
Where can I watch The Hillbilly Scientist?
As of the Chamonix premiere, the film had not yet secured wide distribution. It is being shown at film festivals and running events while the producers finalise a distribution deal, so check Mellor&Smith and Raidlight for upcoming screenings.
Why is Cantrell a controversial figure?
Cantrell has faced criticism for banning a Black Lives Matter team from one of his virtual races in 2020, and for Confederate flag displays at Barkley that went unaddressed in the same period. Supporters point to his decades of encouraging inclusivity within the sport and his warmth toward entrants. The film does not shy away from this side of the story.
About the Author
Andy Hood is an ultra runner and testicular cancer survivor based in North Devon, running the miles that came after a diagnosis changed everything.
Since finishing treatment he has taken on a 170 mile run to Land's End, a solo 24 hour treadmill effort, two Tour du Mont Blanc and the Krispy Kreme London 50, raising over £28,000 for cancer charities along the way. And is now a proud Brand Ambassador for Runna.
He is the founder of Check Ya Balls, a menswear brand built to remind men to check themselves. Follow the miles at runningwestwardho.co.uk.
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