KEEP CALM AND RIDE A BIKE!

Four days wholly dedicated to the bicycle, in all its different uses and models: the Bicycle Film Festival is a touring initiative that stops in 25 metropolis around the world. The festival tells the stories of men and women who are reinventing the universe of cycling and its relation to cities.

The Bicycle Film Festival will feature four days of screenings, competitions, exhibitions and music. Screenings will be held at the Cinema Mexico, an institution for independent cinema in Milan, with a rich history of research and attention to quality cinema. The Festival was founded in New York in 2001: its founder, Brendt Barbur, had this idea when he was hit by a bus while riding his bike in New York City, and he tried to turn this negative experience into a positive one. In 2001 Barbur started the Bicycle Film Festival as a platform to celebrate the bicycle through music, art and, film. Since then, the Bicycle Film Festival has been a major catalyst for the urban bike movement, one of the most powerful and culturally relevant forces of the last decade, andone of the most likely to come with us to the next one.

For the next stop of the festival, in Milan, the films have been chosen by the American direction: there will be 47 projections about the different souls of the bicycle, from traditional road ones, to bmx and track ones, and also to the veterans, all told differently, with portraits, video clips, documentaries and video art. At the Laboratories Ansaldo, exindustrial plant from the beginning of the XX century, an urban velodrome center will be carried out in partnership with the city of Milan: there a series of thematic events will be held throughout the four days: races,exhibitions, bike polo championships, bmx sessions, foldings races, alleycats and more over. At the same place there will be the art exposition “Senza Mani”, dedicated to the Provos, a group of young dutch activists that from 1965 to 1967, in Amsterdam, made their own revolution through happenings, humour and nonsenses, always riding their white bicycles. Through their movement these militants have contributed to make Amsterdam one of the most liveable cities ever.