Every mid-April marks the annual Filmed By Bike Festival – this year being the 12th incarnation of the damned thing. Because it always falls the 3rd weekend in April it always kind of screws with my birthday weekend. However, this year, having a low-key birthday, I incorporated it into my plans and bought tickets to their “Bike Party” late night showing after the opening day street party.

Unfortunately the morning brought a downpour, but by the time I packed up at work to leave for the event, the rain subsided and there was only a meager sprinkling to endure before it finally dried up. It was still pretty chilly and despite the New Belgium beer garden heaters, I still found myself running inside a couple times for “snack time” with friends at nearby Dot’s Cafe to warm up and take a break to sit down.

Despite being a whiny cold baby, I did get to see the majority of the acts that were performed during the street party.

Under the awning, Tempos; a circus-like troupe of gymnasts performed some pretty stellar feats and silly sketches. As with that kind of acrobatic stuff, it’s always pretty interesting to watch their muscle control & coordination, etc. And no one managed to crack their head on the struts inside the awning, so that was a plus.

Then there were the antics of Mini Bike Mayhem. My little Blueberry made a cameo due to one of their crew being short a bike. That sturdy little steel beast kept up with the best of them as foam & pvc jousting lances were hurled into the melee of mini-bike cyclists. Wheels and shoulders bashed into each other in a tangle of metal and flesh and faux fur and lamé.

And then we went in to the films. Even though I had to be at work at 7:30 the next morning, I still went to the 9pm showing, because I knew it would be out by 11pm at the latest. I mean, they do Rocky Horror every Saturday night at the Clinton Street Theater, so there’s that turn around. And I wanted to experience the street fair in its entirety.

There were 16 shorts during the opening night Bike Party showing, not counting the FBB trailer at the very beginning. I have to say that these were pretty fantastic little clips from all around the world.

One of my favorite ones (because I’m a total bike nerd) was a 7 minute piece by Paolo Casalis from Bra, Italy called “El Diablo.” From my understanding, it’s just a scene from a documentary called “The Last Kilometer.” This was a character piece on Didi Senft, who has been a symbol of road racing for probably as long as I’ve been alive. 

Then there was this simple 1 minute piece (where I have to admit, I almost cried) by Pablo Correa and  Noe Mendoza from Madrid, Spain called “Miroslav Martínez.” This one was so simplistically beautiful and almost Daliesque or even dadaesque in its execution. And then at the end of the very short, silent, except for musical scene the homage quote to Miroslav is revealed: “Asking why only serves to cut the wings off of dreams in flight.” It just killed me. 

Another one worth mentioning was “Wheelin’” a 6 minute character profile out of Indianapolis, Indiana by Jason Drake, Jeremy Albert, JD Schuyler and Luke Tate. This fantastically displays the work of Steve Carter, a historical preserver of vintage bicycles. 

I enjoyed the entire presentation and the flow of the evening was smoothly edited (as far as I could tell). I had a fantastic evening. Laughed, was entranced and entertained and am looking forward to next year.