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B.I.K.E. (2007, I assume)
"Two filmmakers infiltrate an underground bicycle club.
Driven by anti-materialism and a belief that the impending apocalypse
will render cars useless and leave bicycles in power, Black Label Bike
Club (BLBC) battles mainstream consumer culture and rival gangs for its
vision of a better tomorrow. Pulling threads from Critical Mass and the
wider bike counterculture, B.I.K.E. explores such themes as radical
politics, personal artistic vision, global responsibility,
relationships, group formation, and perhaps most prominently, pain and
love. Co-directors, Jacob Septimus and Anthony Howard follow the
Brooklyn chapter of BLBC for over two years to meetings, parties,
jousts, gatherings of the tribes in Amsterdam and Minneapolis, and the
protests of the 2004 Republican National Convention to create their
masterpiece. This fascinating and gorgeously gritty film provides
insight into a passionate subculture, and exposes the darker aspects of
living on the wild side. Edited from over 385 hours of footage for over
2 years Fountainhead Films presents B.I.K.E., a riveting look into the
ways in which identity is important for a collective of fiercely
independent people." (From the filmmakers' website)
Bicycle Corps:
America's Black Army on Wheels (2000,
57 min.)
"In the 1890s, the United States Army thought it could
replace the horse with the newly developed and highly popular 'safety
bicycle.' Testing this theory, the army sent 20 African-American
soldiers on a ride from Fort Missoula, Montana, to St. Louis, Missouri
-- 2,000 miles away. This program traces the group's route across the
American West through the eyes of two of its riders: the enthusiastic
white officer and a black first sergeant whose experience guided and
motivated the enlisted men." (PBS,
PBS-buy,
IMDB)
Bike Like You Mean It (2002)
"Bike Like U Mean It, a documentary by Susan
Kirr and Rusty Martin about Austin's bike community, will screen at
SXSW this year [2002]. Many of Austin's bike activists are featured in
this film, so you will see a lot of familiar faces, and it is our
attempt to portray the culture and the issues surrounding Austin's bike
scene: Critical Mass, Yellow Bike Project, Spinning Wheel Project, and
Amy Babich's letters to the Chronicle are all featured, to name a few."
(Description by the producers.) Order from the National
Film Network.
More from the producers:
The new documentary, "Bike Like U Mean It," by
Rusty Martin and Susan Kirr, will have its world premiere at SXSW in
March 2002. This film is a portrait of Austin's commuter cyclists,
those who ride their bikes as transportation, eschewing cars. Outspoken
and iconoclastic, they actively promote not only alternative forms of
transportation, but an alternative viewpoint toward cities, urban
design, lifestyle, and culture. The film features:
*Critical Mass, a monthly "coincidence" of bicyclists
riding through downtown rush hour traffic
*The Yellow Bike Project, a small collective of
utopian idealists who are trying to put public bikes on the streets and
also educate disadvantaged children about how to work on bikes
*The Spinning Wheel Project, dedicated to biking,
peace, and non-violence
*Amy Babich and her years-long letter writing campaign
to the Austin Chronicle
*Experts discussing alternative forms of energy,
transportation, and urban design
Made in Secret: The Story of the East Van Porn Collective (2005,
probably)
There is not a whole lot of bikes (or even talk about
them) in this video, but since bikes seem important to the filmmakers,
and since the film is unusual, I'll dedicate some space to the review.
From the filmmakers'
website and press release: Made in Secret is
an enthralling, inspiring and deliciously perplexing labour of love,
made over the course of three years by a group of friends who wanted to
make a documentary about their local anarcho-feminist porn collective.
The only problem was, that collective didn't exist. And so, in order to
make the film, they actually became the anarcho-feminist porn
collective that they so passionately wanted to document. So is the
resulting film a documentary? A fictional drama? Even the collective
doesn't know anymore. And ultimately, it doesn't matter, because the
movie isn't about what happened or what didn't happen -- it's about
what's possible. And the possibilities are huge, transcending the quest
for egalitarian porn and touching at the very heart of how we engage
with others and with the world around us.
It's about a group of arty, punky,
queer-positive, bike-riding anarcho-feminist rabble-rousers who decide
to make their own sexy little movies to combat the patriarchial,
hetero-normative, exploitive garbage being cranked out by Hollywood and
the porn industry.
But in a bigger sense, it's also
about the collective process and consensus decision-making. The San
Francisco Independent Film Festival described it like this:
"This enthralling movie is
something of a minor miracle, tackling some very weighty subjects with
an ease and humor that belies the importance of its concerns. It's an
unparalleled depiction of a collective at work; a vehicle for airing
issues about sex and porn and representation and body image and
consumption and filmmaking; and an inspiring portrait of a really
smart, lovely, unlikely group of people pushing themselves way out into
the unknown."
And it's just plain fun. How many
movies have you seen where people talk seriously about the principle of
mutual aid one minute and have a mud fight the next? It's got
everything! Funny little songs, heart-wrenching meetings, bikes galore,
and some of the sexiest films you'll never see.
Paperboys (2001, 58 min.)
"People often ask 'are there still paperboys?' For
filmmaker Mike Mills, this was the underlying theme of the film: how
traditions stay alive and how they mutate. Were these kids aware that
they were part of a long tradition, and how they were changing that
tradition?". (official website)
Still We Ride (2006?,
37 min.)
"On Friday August 27, 2004
just days before the start of the Republican National Convention, a
massive police operation was underway. By the end of the night 264
people were arrested for taking part in the Critical Mass Bike Ride. It
marked one of the largest mass arrests in New York City's history.
Still We Ride captures the joyous atmosphere of this ride before the
arrests began and also the legal aftermath. It recounts how Critical
Mass first started in San Francisco over 10 years ago and chronicles
the police crackdown and resulting court battles in New York. The movie
takes on issues of civil liberties, surveillance, the power of
mainstream media, and the benefits of alternative means of
transportation."
Return of the Scorcher (1992, 30 min.)
This half-hour documentary looks at bike culture and
bike lifestyles around the world with beautiful and inspiring scenes of
bike use filmed in China, The Netherlands, Denmark, and the U.S.
In the 1890's, before automobiles ruled the roads,
bicyclists were referred to as "Scorchers" because of their blazing
speed. A century later, in a world filled with car-related
environmental and social problems, Return of the Scorcher discovers an
inspired and evolving bicycling renaissance.
This documentary touches on a surprising variety of
subjects including romance, rebellion, early feminism, and spirituality
-- all viewed within the context of bicycling. Return of the Scorcher
questions our obsession with "progress" and status and presents a
diverse cross-section of cycling visionaries who see the bicycle as a
life-affirming vehicle for change.
Return of the Scorcher features a scene which led to the
adoption of the name "Critical Mass" for the rides which now occur
around the world and also served as inspiration for Ted's other movie
We aren't blocking traffic, We Are Traffic! Bicycle designer George
Bliss coins the term "Critical Mass" in describing the flow of bicycle
traffic with cars in China.
Suggested University/Classroom use: Environmental
studies, Architectural/Urban Design Political Studies, Sociology, Art
(public art, performance art, guerilla art). (visit
the producer's website)
Velorution
(1996, 27 min.)
When the USSR collapsed, Cuba lost 80% of their oil supply. This movie
documents how they bought 1.2 million bicycles, switched 5 bus
factories to bicycle manufacture, educated riders on how to ride,
posting bicycle signs, dealt with cross harbor bicycle ferries and
shuttles, doing job swaps to reduce length of commutes. (IMDB)
Shorts (20 minutes or less)
Home on a Tricycle
(Reuters news story, 2008, 1:35 min.)
A Hong Kong designer has come up with a novel way to beat the city's
soaring housing prices and cramped living conditions. The tricycle home
may be small, but it comes with a door, a window, a writing desk and a
fold out bed. (Reuters)
White Vans (2007, 13 min.)
After
having two bikes stolen within a month, Vancouver resident Aren Hansen
made this docu-drama. Throughout the film, he rides the
(presumably stolen) blue ladies' bike that a thief left behind after
stealing Hansen's bike. The film won several film festival
awards. Here's the video of a news story about the doc, which is actually more enlightening than the film's trailer. (official site)
Yellow Bike Project
(2008, 8:00 min.)
An introduction to the Yellow Bike Project in Austin, Texas, an
all-volunteer organization which operates community bike shops to teach
repair skills to the public. (AustinYellowBike.org)
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