2009 Bicycle Film Festival – Washington DC
December 6th, 2009
Since 2001, Brendt Barbur has been putting on the Bicycle Film Festival (BFF). In the years that followed the BFF has grown to include international showings in 39 cities and an annual attendance of a quarter million people. 2009 was the first year that the BFF was held in Washington DC and from what I could garner the DC cycling community was quite excited to finally have it in our city. The DC BFF was a one day festival held at the Navy Memorial Theater on 7th St. There were three showings, we attended the 9pm program which featured of 14 short films. Without futher adiu, I give you 14 equally short reviews:
On Time 1985/16mm/USA: racing through the streets, a special delivery of utmost importance leads to hilarity, danger, and a BOOM!
Safari London 2009/HD/UK: sexy imagry. If I shot video this is what I would want to do. Timelapse, motion blur, multiple exposure. Wonderful.
Made in Queens 2008/Video/USA: tinkering teenagers from Trinidad create 300 lbs speaker bikes that will knock your socks off.
Polo Manual 2009/DVCPRO HD/UK: cycles, community, competition, and collision come together for a little game. No horses allowed.
Some Things Ride a Bicycle 2006/Video/USA: ever see an oaktree or an elephant ride a bike. Yeah, I didn’t think so.
An Apology 2007/DC/USA: some people get so bent out of shape when you pretend to get a mortal injury while demonstrating how to steal a bike with powertools.
Kant 2009/DVD/Japan: I most certainly can’t do any of the impressive fixie riding demonstrated by the Japanese crew.
Pixel Gear Bikes!! Ride Safe, Ride Fast, Ride Free 2009/Video/Spain: the familiar comfort of 8 bit video game technology meets some snazzy riding and a brutal dooring
What’s a Girl To Do 2007/Video/UK: syncronized cycling to music while riding down a dark wooded road at night and wearing giant animal masks. ‘Nuff said.
Ski Boys 2006/Super8/Canada: oh the things that idle hands, miscellaneous farm equipment, and some ingenuity can do to bikes and skateboards.
Belle Epoch 2008/Video/Italy: I’ve got an idea, lets ride up some of the hardest terrain in Italy on a bike with no handle bars or brakes, while playing various musical instruments. Brilliant!
The Scraper Bike King 2009/16mm/USA: “If it wasn’t for scraper bikes, I’d be either dead or in jail. I’m not sure which.”
Broadway Bomber/Bridge Battle 2009/HD/USA: 1st person helmet camera perspective on an addrenalin filled street race. See NYC in a whole new way.
Anima D’Acciaio (Soul of Steel) 2009/HD/Italy: a passionate life’s work. I just wish I spoke Italian so I could have understood it.
Looking forward to next year’s festival.
heads like woah
July 10th, 2009
Its 10 days shy of the 6th month anniversary of Obama’s inauguration but I figured I’d remind everyone what give or take a bazillion folks looked like. I tried to do a little Googleing to see what the accurate number was and am getting estimates anywhere from 800K to 3MM, soooo a bazillion sounds about right. Happy Friday!
The House of the Temple
July 8th, 2009
The House of the Temple is the headquarters of Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite of Freemasons. It is a very impressive (and imposing)structure located on 16th Street in Northwest DC. Modeled after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, it was completed in 1915 and designed by Architect John Russell Pope. Pope was a prolific and important Architect around Washington DC, designing such notable structures as the National Archives, Constitution Hall, the National Gallery of Art, and the Jefferson Memorial. The House of the Temple was Pope’s first major commission in the District and served to cement his name in the city’s rich architectural heritage.
The building is open for free tours but as these are available in the middle of the work day I’ll have to settle for the virtual tour. A very intriguing building and secret(ish) society.
cruisin’
July 7th, 2009
Hip hip hooray, this photo won me DCist photo of the day! It’s really the little things yah know. Though the photo, or rather my recklessness in taking the photo, did garner a bit of hating in the comments. C’mon, I’m coasting to a red light, in a bike lane and taking the photo with a point and click film camera w/o looking through the view finder. No more reckless than talking on the cell phone while driving or blindly walking into intersections while in an ipod trance which it seems most everyone is guilty of.
Regardless it is always fun to see my photos up on a blog outside of Juxta or my flickr page.
This photo was taken with my plastic toy Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim 35mm camera.
when I say: OBEY, you say: GIANT. OBEY!…GIANT!
June 19th, 2009
I have long been a fan of Shepard Fairey’s OBEY GIANT campaign. His campaign of Phenomenolgy started ~20 years ago and in this time Shepard has grown to be a highly established and respected artist. Obama’s iconic “HOPE” image was Shepard’s doing. As I go around the city day to day I always keep my eyes peeled for a new sticker, poster, or stencil. Just this morning I found one on a crosswalk light at Logan Circle; it made me smile.
His syndicated “brand” can be found all over the world creating a common visual thread that can be easily recognized by those looking for it. Around the election Shepard visited DC and did a number of great pieces. Shepard’s work and it’s reproduction by his supporters world wide is meant to draw to question the rights of governments and corporations to control our visual landscape. By creating simple, recognizable, iconic images that can be easily mass produced the OBEY campaign aims at provoking us to think critically about the messages that are being subconsciously instilled in us everyday through mass marketing and media. In high school I contributed to the urban visual intervention by printing OBEY stickers for me and my skateboarding pals.
As his work has developed Shepard’s art has gotten more and more complex and increasingly takes on tough politcal issues such as immigration reform, and the child soldier crisis in struggling countries around the world. Watch the video HERE to get a better feel for the artists’ process, skill, and vision.
The photo above was taken at the site of the flea market at Florida Ave/U Street with my Olympus XA.
storms like woah
June 12th, 2009
As I look out my window now the sky’s above the ATF building are a lovely shade of blue with a few wispy clouds. A far cry from the view earlier this week when it appeared that the wrath of God was about to be unleashed upon us. I’ve never seen clouds like that before; we all just kept waiting for the twister to appear. Thankfully it did not because I can not imagine a construction trailer or site is a very good place to be during a tornado. I heard they are actually considering naming a new type of cloud after these recent formations cause that most certainly is not a cumulus cloud!
The above picture was taken with an Olympus XA on 35mm film.
