Bicycle Film
Melissa Russian
Bicycle Film Festival has been celebrating bicycles through art, film and music over the last 24 years. BFF spans the world in over 100 cities worldwide to an audience of over one million people. The festival now returns to Wisconsin.
Join the BFF in conversation with Greg LeMond, one of the greatest professional cyclists of all time. Lemond is universally revered around the world as an ambassador of cycling. In his career, he won the Tour de France 3x and won the World Road Race Championship 2x. Lemond, from the US, is a pioneer for introducing several technological advancements in cycling. He has been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor awarded in the United States.
BFF has been celebrating bicycles through art, film and music over the last 24 years. BFF spans the world in over 100 cities worldwide to an audience of over one million people. BFF Bend presents films curated for Bend that celebrate the change makers, the legends, and the bicycle itself:
BFF Bend is thrilled to announce a unique opportunity to dine with cycling legend Greg LeMond, three-time Tour de France winner, at an exclusive fundraising event for OAS. This intimate dinner will be held on Friday June 7th at the wonderful Flights Wine Bar and Resturant in Bend, OR, starting at 6pm.
With your support, our vision is to empower a community of youth to become bike enthusiasts. Youth who are willing to speak up for safer streets and other key advocacy to promote bike safety and access.
Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) is coming to Marin County. BFF has an incredible history. It began in New York City in 2001 by Brendt Barbur after being hit by a bus while riding a bicycle. He turned his negative experience into a positive one. BFF has been celebrating bicycles through art, film, and music around the world in over 100 cities to an audience of one million people.
BFF Marin County presents an international selection of short films celebrating the bicycle in all its forms. A diverse curation of filmmaking styles: narratives, documentaries, animations, award-winning filmmakers, and emerging directors all share equal billing. BFF appeals to a wide audience from film connoisseurs to avid cyclists and everyone in between.
BFF Asheville presents a short film program for lovers of mountain biking, bike packing, road cycling curated with a diverse array of films that capture the spirit of youth cultures from passionate cyclists around the world. Featuring stories about:
Bicycle Film Festival has been celebrating bicycles through art, film, and music the last 23 years. Founded in 2001, Brendt Barbur was compelled to start the BFF after being hit by a bus while riding his bike in New York. BFF has spanned the world in over 100 cities worldwide to an audience of over one million people. The festival has an incredible history of working with the most important artists, filmmakers, venues, and institutions around the world. The Subcultures of cycling have shared equal billing with the most exciting innovators in music, art, design, and film.
The Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) begins at 8:30 PM following the community ride portion of Asheville Bicycle Festival. BFF attendees are encouraged to bring their own folding / camping chair to the event. Those who plan to participate in the community rides before the films can check their chairs at AoB bike valet before the rides and claim their chairs for the films.
For me, the reflexive aspect of the film that packed the biggest emotional punch was the array of actors playing themselves, especially the ones that have died in the meantime: Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows, Jack Lemmon, Burt Reynolds, Rod Steiger, Patrick Swayze. It was like spending some good time with ghosts.
The Bicycle Film Festival is a showcase of bike related films that travels all over the world and for a few days at a time brings together the different bike cultures in a community to celebrate the greatness of bike riding.
The third day of the Bicycle Film Festival (San Francisco stop) kicked off with a street party in a small alley near Mission street. There were some grind boxes, rails and a lot of people from different bike communities gathered in the street. It was a pretty good time, but for me the highlight was when Ron Wilkerson rolled through with his trailer that folded out into a 9ft quarter.
By shining a light on people who have embraced cycling as a way to overcome daunting personal and systemic challenges, The Engine Inside ultimately asks viewers to reconsider their own perspective. Is there a transformative power within us all that can be unlocked through the simple act of riding a bike?
Shimano, Pon.Bike and PeopleForBikes present an Anthill Films production. Starring: D-Blocks, Noran Salah, Megan Hottman, Jay Bearhead, Janice Tower, and Kwabena Danso with Danny Macaskill and Robert Gesink. Directed by: Darcy Wittenburg, Darren McCullough, Colin Jones
Founded in New York in 2001, Bicycle Film Festival has been celebrating bicycles through art, film and music for the last 23 years. BFF spanned the world in 100 cities to an audience of over one million people. The international locales included Paris, London, Tokyo, Shanghai, Mexico City, Cape Town and Istanbul and more at some of the most important venues such as Sydney Opera House and the Barbican or an old factory in Zurich. The subcultures of cycling have shared equal billing with the most exciting innovators in music, art, design and film. Participants have included: Erykah Badu, Karl Lagerfeld, Francesco Clemente, Shepard Fairey, Albert Maysles, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, Alex Katz, Kaws, Gavin Turk, Mike Mills, Paul Smith, the Neistat Brothers, Tom Sachs, Ridley Scott, Kiki Smith, Swoon, and Ai Weiwei.
The Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) has been celebrating bicycles through art, film and music over the last 24 years. BFF spanned the world in over 100 cities worldwide to an audience of over one million people.
Join us for BFF's first in-person in event in our home city in nearly three years! The 22nd annual Bicycle Film Festival New York presents over 40 international short and feature length films. Curated in 5 programs, these stories will appeal to a wide audience from film enthusiasts to avid cyclists and everyone in between. There will be a Q&A after each program.
Ladri di biciclette is an Italian Neorealist film from 1948, directed by Vittorio de Sica. It follows the story of Antonio, an impoverished bill sticker, as he desperately searches the streets of Rome for his stolen bicycle, without which he will not be able to keep his job. Neorealism is a cinematic movement whose adherents attempt to represent the lives of ordinary people in as realistic a manner as possible. One of its principles is to film in real locations rather than in studios. In keeping with this principle, Ladri di biciclette was filmed almost entirely on the streets of Rome.
As someone who tends to spend seven months out of the year on the road, away from home, 2020 has been a welcomed change, albeit with some major adjustments. Stay at home orders in New Mexico are some of the strictest in the United States and this forced me to look to my new home state for rides and trips. Suddenly, I found myself living at the threshold of beautiful high-country riding with endless possibilities for bicycle touring and mountain biking. To put it mildly, my relocation to Santa Fe has opened up a whole world of opportunity.
While foot and equestrian traffic is allowed throughout the entirety of the trail, only specific sections are open to bicycle travel. The Northern New Mexico section of CDT is entirely singletrack from Cumbres Pass in Colorado all the way to Forest Road 280, just north of El Rito and contrary to conflicting information out there, it does not traipse into Wilderness-designated areas. Bicycles are free to traverse the entirety of this wonderful terrain on singletrack.
I opted for a tent, rather than a bivy, and a film camera in a Porcelain Rocket hip bag, rather than the digital kit I usually carry which easily weighs 5x as much as a 35mm rangefinder. My general approach is to pack for potential conditions and whatever it takes to be comfortable for three days on the bike, without overpacking.
After endless beauty, ripping descents, punchy climbs, snowfall, fell trees, and encounters with wildlife, we made camp alongside Lagunitas Lake, my mind still racing and my heart still pounding. All that self-doubt dissipated and I looked forward to the next two days. After dinner, some herbal therapy, and conversations about life, I enclosed myself in my tent and went to sleep, anxieties subsided. Suddenly, I felt very capable and prepared. I guess the takeaway here is to not limit aspiration to doubt. Also, having a supportive riding partner definitely helps.
The opening minutes paint Rome as desperate and hungry, loud and hopeful. Men wait for jobs, women fetch water, kids run around. Families are on the verge of starvation and everyone is talking, talking, talking. The city is poised for better times, waiting for the next break, but not expecting it to come soon.
Filming on location allows viewers to see real places and real people. It has a different feel than the cultivated Hollywood studio. There are different allowances and different limitations. Bicycle Thieves takes us on a tour-de-Rome, showing the highs and lows of the city. There is scope to the search beyond indoor sets. The same goes for the non-actors. Instead of shiny, practiced faces, the people in the film look more realistic.
Long takes are not very common in contemporary films. Editing rooms have become voracious, slicing for only the essentials to be shown in the final cut. In a long take, it can feel like the camera is waiting for something to happen. Bicycle Thieves uses these long takes to nurture a sense of realism. Interludes of mundane moments in the film help to situate the viewer. It is easier to see elements of yourself in the film if you are given time to recognize what is on screen.
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