This guest blog post by Jen Sheean is about the Brisbane Bicycle Film Festival. Onthe night, The Style over Speed crew rode from Brisbane city to the cinema at St Lucia, where the incredible cycOZ performed an infectious bicycle-inspired percussion set on arrival (see end photos). Last year, Bella and I entered our film Leki, which took out the People’s Choice Award. This year, I gave my tickets to Jen, a fellow singlespeed MTBer who had not been to the festival before. Not only did Jen have a good time, but she kindly wrote a summary of the films shown. Thanks so much Jen! See you all at the Brisbane Bicycle Film Festival next year! Enjoy! NG.
Brisbane Bicycle Film Festival 2019
Thanks to the generosity of Nina, my husband and I spent a slightly wet Friday night at the Schonell Theatre in UQ enjoying the Brisbane Bicycle Film Festival.
It was a wonderful night and very well-attended. As I understand it, the change this year to a bigger venue meant that the previously sold-out event still had some tickets available. This is a great development because, in my opinion, more people should head to it and see what it has to offer.
I plan to go again!
The first half of the night saw some announcements from Mark Bailey, the Minister for Cycling (as I understand is his preferred title having moved on from being mangocube), about the newly opened Gateway Bicycle Path and some upcoming projects for more bicycle paths in the northern suburbs of Brisbane. Announcements of more paths are always a happy thing in this somewhat cycling challenged city of ours.
Space for Cycling is the organiser of the event and they should be congratulated on how smoothly it ran. Their drive to push for safer ways to travel by bicycle in the CBD appears boundless – and I hope they see some decent success soon.
After the formalities, it was on to the short films competing for prizes, including the People’s Choice Award which was won last year by a film in which the indefatigable Nina was heavily involved.
Brisbane Bike Bites
These short films must be no more than 5 minutes and have some connection to both Brisbane and cycling. There was a range of approaches to these very broad criteria but that just added to the fun.
The first film was called I Love to Ride My Bicycle. It was a spiffy 1:37 long but it had everyone laughing from beginning to end. The concept was simple but brilliantly executed.
The next was The Gate. Another simple concept but the credits were the real star of this film. They were full of tongue-in-cheek references greatly appreciated by the audience – so much so that they (the film makers not the credits) took out the People’s Choice Award.
Pedal-mentry provided a fascinating look at a club that is populated by people who have customised their bicycles. Some of the creations were totally whacky! But the individuality shown by all of the bicycles is a testament to the creativity of their owners.
On the Fly followed a ride around Brisbane. Then it had a cat at the end. I really liked the cat.
Club Song Film was true to its name. It showcased the vocal talents of a penny farthing club. They all dressed in era-specific garb and seemed to be having a jolly old time in their singalong around the piano.
Inspired by a similar era, A Jaunty Jaunt took out first prize. The highlight was the juxtaposition of the olde time costume and penny farthing bicycle of the main character and his meeting with his modern day counterpart. It was a truly fun concept.
Finally, the last bite sized film was The Epic of Spring Hill. This faux-documentary about an intrepid pair attempting to summit Spring Hill was a delight from start to finish. The bike skills on display while riding City Cycles were impressive but I particularly liked when they decided to climb the steps up to the summit using a rope and the lead climber thought briefly about cutting the rope holding his companion. Spoiler alert: They did reach the summit by bike but it appears their claim to be the first to do so has been disputed.
The Main Feature
These very clever short films were followed by the main feature. The Bicycles of Wrath is a film in which 5 mates from Victoria decide to follow, by bike, the route taken by the ill-fated Joad family in the Steinbeck novel, The Grapes of Wrath.
It was beautifully done and showcased the generosity of those with little to give in a way that nicely mirrored Steinbeck’s underlying theme. I truly enjoyed it. I’d recommend it to anyone who is interested in Steinbeck, bicycles, travel or human nature.
We left the event wondering how it is we’d never been before.
That said, we will be there next year and I recommend you consider going as well!
