Cycling on film: an on-screen romance
In our latest guest blog, Laura Fletcher from the Bicycle Film Festival explores the long-standing love affair between bikes and film.
Do you remember the first time you rode a bike? I do. As with many people, riding my bike is one of my earliest childhood memories. It may have been the first time I felt freedom. It’s no wonder that film-makers often draw on subjects like this, that have influenced and shaped their own lives in some way or another.
It’s now a reality that cycling is everywhere. Even in countries that don’t have cars, you still find bikes. A bicycle’s simplicity and universality means that everybody can relate to it, so it makes sense that film throughout the ages has been inspired by cycling.
For as long as the moving picture has existed, bicycles have remained a constant theme. In 1899 Thomas Edison starred in a short film performing ‘bicycle tricks.’ The 1948 masterpiece of Italian cinema Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves) is still viewed today as a seminal piece of narrative film, following one worker’s journey to retrieve his stolen bike, essential to his job.
For many people, perhaps the first film to pop into your head when you say ‘bike movie’, is one of the most pivotal cycling films, A Sunday in Hell. This feature-length documentary of the 1976 Paris-Roubaix race is not only renowned for the impact it made in the cycling world, but is also regarded as the first documentary in a style which set a standard that still exists today.
More recently, bikes have dotted Hollywood screens, with American Flyers, Breaking Away, BMX Bandits and more. Just last year we saw Joseph Gordon Levitt take on the role of a New York City Bike Messenger, escaping danger (in the form of heavy traffic and an arsenal of bad guys) to ‘get his package delivered on time’.
Whilst the culture of cycling is gaining popularity both as a sport and part of a lifestyle, its inspiration within film is hardly novel. Perhaps it’s due to the simplicity of the machine itself, or the ease with which aspects of the cycling experience can be related to your life, but bikes continue to find their way onto our cinema screens.
Cycling in film is a simple, universal way to celebrate cycling in all its forms, and a proven model of encouraging participation through cultural means. Film provides another access point, a different way into the ever-expanding world of cycling. And film, like all the arts, is a basis for creating a sense of community. The Bicycle Film Festival, now in its thirteenth year, has been celebrating and encouraging cycling of all kinds to promote the bicycle, and create new connections between sports and art. Our goal is only to showcase the best selection of films about cycling from around the world – all lengths, all budgets, and all types of riding. Creating a forum to showcase film, we bring cyclists and potential cyclists together, forging new communities and relationships – and we hope to continue to do so for many more years.
*Win tickets to The Bicycle Film Festival in London*
British Cycling in conjunction with The Bicycle Film Festival are giving away a pair of tickets to watch ‘Racing around the World’ at the festival on Sunday 6th October.
For the chance to win these tickets simply tweet us or email goskyride@britishcycling.org.uk and tell us why you're passionate about cycling? The winner will be chosen at random on Thursday 3rd October. Good Luck!
Laura Fletcher is Head Producer of The Bicycle Film Festival which runs from the 3-6 October at the Barbican Centre in London.
