My buddy Claire, her friend and I, headed down to the Barbican to watch the Urban Shorts tonight. The audience was friendly and funny (joking between the films creating a lovely community atmosphere) - the girl at the stall even friendlier (thanks for the stickers and bracelet) and the films a combination of the lives of messengers, long rides pushing cyclists to their limits, bicycle tricks and lots of humor!We also had the chance to see the overly blink Swarovski bike (photos above).
 | ERIK ELSTRAN’S DRAGON SHREDIT USA 2010 | HD 4 min Dir. Erik Elstran This dragon rides a bike! This was one of my favorites! This boy rode a bike as if it was simply an extension of his body - and it was cleverly funny too. |
 | TOKYO TO OSAKA USA, JAPAN 2010 | HD 13 MIN Dir. Nic Hill Twelve amateur American fixed gear cyclists and their 400-mile journey through the Japanese countryside. The Americans were accompanied by a local cyclist for the beginning of the trip - his story almost triggered a tear. |
 | TOKYO JITENSHA USA, JAPAN 2009 | DIGITAL SLR 1 MIN Dir. Steven Day Bicycling through the city at the speed of light. |
 | BUILT USA 2010 | HD 4 MIN Dir. Sara Kinney A conversation with the frame builder Lance Mercado of Squarebuilt. Building custom bicycles with precision. |
 | COURIER EFFECT GERMANY, FRANCE, SPAIN 2009 | MINI DV 10MIN. Dir. Andrew Crighton Portraits of bicycle messenger family members from Barcelona to Paris to Berlin. |
 | GRIME PRESENTS USA 2010 | HD 7 MIN Dir. Mike Schmitt & Ed Laforte Two of the most talented street riders today, Mike Schmitt and WONKA kill it like no others in the world. Boys! |
 | DAY LABOR USA 2010 | HD 10 MIN Dir. Brendan O’Neill Kohl & Minka Farthing-Kohl A short film about bike messengers, day laborers and outsourcing gone wild. This was quite funny; and at the same time not |
 | MINI VELODROME DE BORDEAUX FRANCE 2010 | HD 3MIN Dir. Fontas Niko A glimpse into a French velodrome through a tilt-shift lens yielding beautifully mesmerizing effects. I loved this. Very trippy and indeed mesmerizing. |
 | BUSHVELD BIKE MESSENGER SOUTH AFRICA 2009 | HD 5 MIN Dir. Boyd Varty Nothing, not even elephants, giraffes, rhinos or wildebeasts can stop the Bushveld bike messenger from making his delivery. Another funny film |
 | WE'VE GOT IT ON TAPE UK 2010 DVCPRO HD 5min. Dir. Brendan McNamee Brendan is recorded playing "solo polo" with microphones all over his body, bike and mallet. A soundscape of bike polo in action. |
 | LUCAS BRUNELLE LINE OF SIGHT USA 2010 | HD/16MM 30MIN Dir. Benny Zenga & Lucas Brunelle Lucas Brunelle travels the globe documenting alleycat races and every year he presents a new film at the BFF. This year for our tenth anniversary Lucas teams up with Benny Zenga to produce a film that takes it to another level. Lucas is the undisputed master of documenting alleycats. From the vantage point of his custom helmet-cam his footage serves as insight into the best urban riders in the world in their natural element. Now Benny Zenga turns the camera back on Lucas Brunelle to bring a new dimension to this rare talent and ‘international man of mystery.’ |
