PORTLAND, Ore. (BRAIN) — Do you have some compelling video footage from your store showing how brick-and-mortar bike shops can be the center of their local community bike culture? Portland's Filmed by Bike film festival wants to hear from you.
The May festival, which started in 2003, is now three days long and also goes on the road nationally, with one-night showings in about 20 cities last year. Organizers this year decided to put together several short video mashups about local bike shops, tied to the NBDA's #buywhereyouride campaign. Award-winning film maker Manny Marquez will assemble the mashups.
Festival director Ayleen Crotty said organizers want to use the festival gatherings to send a message that bike shops are an important part of bike culture.
"We have a real obligation, as the megaphone that we are, to bring important messages to the screen. So we tend to do our own productions each year that put out messages that we think are important. We have a chance to reach an audience that is very bike-oriented, bike-curious, and we have them captive. When #buywhereyouride came on my radar, we decided that we could do something."
Crotty said the festival already has access to some bike shop footage, but would like to crowdsource more from around the country. Submissions are being accepted until March 24 and instructions are on the festival's website.
Crotty, who also handles social media for Portland-based distributor Cyclone Bicycle Supply, said Marquez is looking for a variety of footage showing bike shops in action.
"We really want to see images that capture what is unique and special about different bike shops around the country, whether it's a customer excited about 'new bike day' or shop staff assisting a customer. We also want to see if a shop has unique features, like shops that have a bar or a coffee counter or that organizes a huge Sunday ride. ... Bike shops really are the resource that carries the bike culture. In a lot of communities the shop is really where the culture begins."
This year's festival is May 5-7 in Portland. Besides the film showings, the festival includes parties, Q&A sessions with filmmakers and, of course, group rides. The Filmed by Bike Tour is spread out across the calendar, with five locations currently scheduled for this year. Crotty said the tour offers bike groups a "film festival in a box," which allows local groups to present the films as a fundraiser. The traveling show offers a choice between two collections of bike films, each totaling less than an hour. One collection includes general bike-related films, called Bike Love. The other collection is of bike adventure films, featuring mountain biking, offroad touring and other adventures.
More information on the Filmed by Bike website. Information on submitting bike shop footage is on the site's #buywhereyouride page.
