It’s the first of the month (white rabbits etc…), which means just one thing; the next episode of The Cycling Europe Podcast is available to download from your preferred podcast purveyor or direct from this website! It’s episode 003 already (I’ll stop when I get to 999) and this month the podcast is distinctly cinematic. You be able to hear about…
- The Leeds Bicycle Film Club: this is a venture run by Ian Street. He is to cycling in Leeds what Cameron Mackintosh is to theatre in the West End. Ian’s been running the film club in the small cinema of The Reliance pub near the centre of Leeds for over two years now and in the podcast he reflects upon how it came about in the first place and gives his thoughts on the cycling films he’s shown in the past as well as those that might be shown in the future. There’s also a bit of beer-lubricated post-film chat.
- In 2016 Jimmy Hyland set off on an adventure across Mongolia. He made an award-winning film about his travels – Mohon – that I first saw at The Sheffield Adventure Film Festival. I bumped into him again at the Saddleworth Outdoor Festival, pointed a microphone in his direction and had a chat about his trip and the film. Here’s the trailer:
- It’s probably impossible to come up with the definitive list of top ten cycling films, but the British Film Institute had a go back in 2012. This is, in chronological order, what they came up with:
- Bicycle thieves (1948)
- Jour de Fete (1949)
- Cyclists Special (1955)
- Vive le Tour (1962)
- Boy and Bicycle (1965)
- A Sunday in Hell (1976)
- Breaking Away (1979)
- Belleville Rendez-vous (2003)
- The Flying Scotsman (2006)
- The Kid with a Bike (2011)
I chat with Harry Bunnell – the cyclist who researched and wrote the list – about his choice of films as well as his current cycling exploits in Sicily, Italy. One question I didn’t ask was ‘what happened to the 1980s and 1990s?‘. Answers on a postcard…
- Filming your own cycling adventure has never been easier; the equipment you can now buy is not only reasonably priced but also capable of producing some astonishingly high quality images. But without an eye for making a good film, you might be better off leaving the GoPro at home. One person who has that eye is filmmaker and cyclist Barry Godin. He’s produced an ever lengthening catalogue of bikepacking films and I asked him to reveal his top filming tips. Here’s his showreel:
The Cycling Europe Podcast will be back on December 1st. If you’d like to contribute, please get in touch. See the contacts page for how to do so. In the meantime, happy listening!
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