filmed by bike

After a few hours chasing cargo bikes at the Disaster Relief Trial (can’t wait to share our video with you Monday morning!) I was glad to switch gears and attend the fun Filmed by Bike festival street party. It looked like the organizers worked hard so that partygoers would have an enjoyable evening with plenty to do. The street behind the Broadway Theater filled up with canopy tents in preparation for rain, but luckily, it only drizzled for a short time.

“For our 20th year anniversary,” said Ayleen Crotty, the film festival organizer, “we just had to bring back this signature part of the history of Filmed by Bike, and I’m happy that we could all party in the streets with a live band, lots of bike groups and vendors coming out to all have fun in the streets.”

The event’s emcee, Meghan Sinnott (known for organizing the Pedalpalooza Bike Summer Festival), has been bringing her trademark good vibes and sweet energy to the street party for years now. “I think that as long as I keep buying wigs, Ayleen will let me go on stage,” said Meghan.

Meghan spoke to a crowd gathered to socialize and dance to the music of Mitch & The Melody Makers, a local 60’s rock ‘n’ roll cover band.

Meghan recommended people visit the interactive photo booth, which turned out to be lots of fun! Jamshed, my friend who helped me with photography throughout the wild evening, and I went and posed for photos. We received a QR code that sends us to a website where photos can be downloaded. Angela Dawn, the owner and operator of the booth said  they are no longer printing, to be more ecologically friendly.  

Some street partygoers enjoyed island-inspired Asian rice-based sandwiches, sold at the Pidgin Hole food truck. I didn’t personally sample any of it but I was seeing folks eating a lot of that grub everywhere so it must have been really tasty!

Other folks in the crowd spoke to members of the Sorella Forte women’s cycling club about promoting women’s health, fitness and community through recreational and competitive cycling; found out more about Shift, a local organization that promotes bike fun and hosts an online bike event calendar; and visited the booth of the Corvidae cycling club, to pick up some zines, stickers and patches.

It wouldn’t be a Portland biking party without a fun bike ride stopping by, this time the Underground Rave Party Ride, which stopped for about 20 minutes to sample the Filmed by Bike street party, then moved on to other fun dance parties in town.

All in all, a successful event  celebrating bikes, film and having fun in a very Portland way!

If you read this on Sunday and still want to catch a screening, the final one of the festival begins at 5:30 pm. See the website for more details.

A big street party in the parking lot behind Velo Cult will kick off the 14th annual Filmed by Bike film festival tonight.

This isn’t just any party. There will be live performance art, a bike confessional storytelling booth, live DJs, a beer garden, group rides all over the place, a slow bike race, and who knows what else.

But beyond the fun is something even bigger: This is our film fest. A local, bike-inspired event that we should all be proud of (and support!). A testament to what’s possible when a city’s bike culture is hitting on all cylinders.

Filmed by Bike inspires and entertains people all over the globe with its unique collection of bike movies, and it’s also an amazing success story. It’s hard to believe this little event that northeast Portlander Ayleen Crotty dreamed up way back when is now one of the best and biggest events of the year. In the past few weeks I’ve seen headlines about it in the media all over town. Now that’s inspiring.

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The 14th annual Filmed by Bike is right around the corner. The big event is May 6th – 8th at the Hollywood Theater and tickets went on sale today. Also today, organizers released the promotional trailer and poster — both of which are Filmed by Bike traditions and reflect the event’s growth into bona fide arts and cultural event.

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Watch it below.

Filmed By Bike, Portland’s homegrown bike film festival, just keeps getting better and better. Now in its 13th year, the festival takes place May 22-24 at the historic Hollywood Theater.

To up the excitement for this year’s event, founder Ayleen Crotty has put together a trailer that is sure to make you smile. We got an exclusive first look before it’s released anywhere else. Check it out below and see how many local fave riding spots you can identify…

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This is how you’ll feel
at Filmed by Bike.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Filmed by Bike, one of Portland’s most beloved celebrations of bicycling, starts tomorrow! This is the 11th annual festival and organizer Ayleen Crotty has put together what looks to be another stellar event. The street party is bigger and more exciting, there are tons of special performances planned including live art creation, bike dancing, and music. And of course there are eight screenings of four distinct programs chock full of the “best bike movies from around the world.”

Ayleen recently shared a rundown of special events and other fun stuff you won’t want to miss.

The New Belgium Street Fest

• The Street Fest is all mew this year, it’s all ages and goes from 3-9pm.
• Dots Cafe is hosting New Belgium Beer and serving up food in the beer garden.

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The cycling world is reeling today as word spreads of a tragic collision that claimed the lives of a UK-based couple that was touring the world by bicycle together. Peter Root and Mary Thompson were riding their bikes in Thailand when someone driving a pick-up truck drove into their path. The couple had been on global biking adventure that started in July 2011.

Peter and Mary had also just recently learned that a film based on their biking adventures was chosen for the 2013 Filmed by Bike festival slated for Portland this April.

Festival Director Ayleen Crotty confirmed today that the couple’s film, Cycling Central Asia, was chosen by a panel of judges to be part of the event. Crotty said this morning that they plan to do a video tribute to Peter and Mary when their film is shown. “Filmed by Bike is producing a short piece to honor the love Peter and Mary had for each other and the adventures they shared.”

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It’s hard to believe that Portland’s bike film festival — Filmed by Bike — is set to celebrate its 10th anniversary. The festival kicks of this Friday night and continues through Wednesday with nine screenings and 75 movies on the schedule.

In addition to the usual weekend slate of films, organizer Ayleen Crotty has added two additional days of screenings. Tuesday (4/17) will be a special program dedicated to the “relentless creative spirit of Cyclocross.” And on Wednesday there will be two showings of the “Best of the Best!” — a mix of favorite films of the past decade.

With more movies than ever, Crotty says she also expects an unprecedented number of filmmakers to attend the event this year. Among them are a trio of bike-loving movie makers from France who are in the middle of a three-year global bike tour. The way Crotty tells it, these guys made a movie while taking a respite in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and, upon getting it accepted to Filmed by Bike, decided to change course and ride to Portland for the event! You can meet these adventurous Frenchmen after the Sunday 7:00 pm showing. There’s also a filmmaker Q & A session following Saturday’s 5:00 pm showing.

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