Bike-centric film festival comes to Minneapolis

With gas prices rising and the environment at risk, bicycling has a “cool factor” like never before. There are thousands of bicycles on local streets—the Midtown Greenway has its very own rush hour—and the Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) is again making its way to Minneapolis. Comprising more than 20 features, 20-some short films, and even a couple of bike music videos, the festival captures a wide spectrum of perspectives on biking as sport, pastime, and mode of transportation.

This summer, founder Brendt Barbur is bringing the third annual film festival to 16 cities across the world, spotlighting everything bicycle in the medium of film. Programming ranges from classics like Breaking Away to the story of a team of Japanese cyclists in a famous stage race in Burkina Faso, from feature-length documentaries to short films. A number of events accompany the BFF: a show of bicycle photography cosponsored by the BFF and One On One Bike Studio opened last Saturday, and the festival kicks off this Thursday with Bikes Rock, a bicycle-themed music show at the 7th Street Entry featuring Ice Rod as well as Eyedea and friends XTASY SQUODD! (a conglomeration of members from local bands Skoal Kodiak, Knifeworld, Melodious Owl, NOW, and ZibraZibra).

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“Fifteen years from now when we look back on this decade and what left an imprint, we’ll see that the bicycle was an important part of it, culturally and socially.”

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New Yorker Barbur came up with the idea for the BFF in 2000 after he was hit by a city bus while riding his bike. The actor vowed to use the experience as motivation to do something positive and saw film as a propagator for what was at the time already more than a fad. In a 2006 L.A. Times interview, Barbur said “Fifteen years from now when we look back on this decade and what left an imprint, we’ll see that the bicycle was an important part of it, culturally and socially.” This year’s strong lineup of films will be screened at three Minneapolis spots: the Riverview Theater, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, and the Macphail Center for Music.

Every summer the Minneapolis-born Black Label Bicycle Club, which now includes chapters in a handful of other cities and countries, comes home to take a ride together. Find out what happens at the party in St. Chino’s Run. See what it’s like for a blind mountain biker relying on a guide while making his way down one of the most difficult courses in the country. Check out the reaction the New York bicycling community had to DKNY putting branded bicycles throughout the city as part of an ad campaign in Orange Bikes Take Manhattan, part of the “Fun Bike Shorts” segment.

Local organizers have come up with a host of events for festival-goers—including dance parties, after parties and a bicycle scavenger hunt. For details, see the BFF Web site.

Troy Pieper (troy@artreviewandpreview.org) is managing editor of ARP! (Art Review & Preview)

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