The Bicycle Film Festival is returning to San Diego on July 25, showcasing 13 short films from around the world all about the joy of biking. The touring festival has occurred every year since 2001, but its last in-person visit to San Diego was in 2015. Each city has a slightly different selection of films, said founder Brendt Barbur.
Saturday's festival is showcasing three programs at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park:
- Cinematic Shorts at 3 p.m.
- Adventure Shorts at 5 p.m.
- Urban Bike Shorts 8 p.m.
The lineup includes documentaries about the Gaza Sunbirds, a Palestinian paracycling team, and Cycling Without Age, a global nonprofit founded in Copenhagen that gives bike rides to older adults.
Barbur said he's especially excited to screen a film about New York City bike messengers in the 1980s shot on 16 mm film.
"A lot of young people have been asking us to play the old films that haven't been seen, never been put on social media or online," Barbur said. "We're hearing them, and it's our pleasure because we have a 2,000-film archive. And that one's a crowd pleaser."
Barbur founded the festival after a traumatic experience biking in New York City. He was "doored" by an inattentive driver, then struck by an oncoming bus. During his six months of rehab, Barbur said, people's reaction to the crash was often to blame him for his own injuries.
"The way people responded to me as a victim of traffic violence was incredibly naive, ignorant," Barbur said. "I wanted to do something and share with people how wonderful cycling is."
One film in the Urban Bike Shorts program features a single mother who transports her two daughters around Mexico City on a multi-seat utility bike — and in doing so, finds liberation from her ex-husband.
"You're opening up the whole world," Barbur said of the urban cyclists featured in the film. "You don't have to wait for anybody, and you don't have to be burdened by the economics of having a car — or the traffic."
