Img_8073.mov | Aucencio Martinez

I’m Aucencio Martinez, a former Olympic Trials middle-distance runner. After missing the Olympic team by one-hundredth of a second, I believed the hardest moment of my life was behind me. A few years later I suffered a stroke and lost the ability to move my arm and walk normally, forcing me to relearn basic movements and rethink who I was beyond being an athlete. Seconds to Heaven is a feature film based on my true story. It follows an athlete whose entire identity is built on performance and time, until a life-altering medical event strips that identity away and he must rebuild himself as a father and a person rather than a competitor. I recorded this short introduction so you can meet the person behind the script. If the story resonates, I’d be happy to share the screenplay or synopsis.