Showing posts with label motorcycle films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motorcycle films. Show all posts

Saturday 18 September 2021

2021 Toronto Motorcycle Film Festival

TMFF kicks off this weekend and, after a year of only fully remote streamed films they're also doing live showings in theatres again. Back in 2019 in the glorious ignorance of the pre-pandemic we went down to Hamilton to watch a live screening of some of that year's top films.  It was a great night out in a theatre full of russling motorcycle gear (pretty much everyone in the audience rode to the theatre).  I'd like to go for a ride to see films live but with my government turning me into Typhoid Mary I don't think it prudent to share my burst pandemic bubble with others.  Fortunately, TMFF is still doing home-streaming and they're showing one I've been looking forward to by Leaving Home Funktion's:  972 Breakdowns:  On the Landway to New York:
 

The technical setup is straightforward and they even shared a test-your-connection link this week so I know it won't be frustrating when I sit down to enjoy this adventure.

The list of films this year is long and distinguished.  If you're in Ontario you can watch them in the theatre if you've been missing that, but if you're still in a defensive posture with COVID you can also just stream to your home.

In a year where I'm missing extended riding trips and feeling very much trapped by my circumstances, the chance to follow Leaving Home Funktion on their adventure across the world will feel like a much needed breath of fresh air.



Tuesday 6 May 2014

Motorcycle Media: a documentary to look forward to

I came across a description of The Greasy Hands Preachers in BIKE Magazine this month.  The two guys responsible for this upcoming documentary about motorcycle culture previously did a short film called Long Live The Kings:


LONG LIVE THE KINGS - Short film documentary - from SAGS on Vimeo.

It packs a surprising amount into a short film.  It's nicely shot and carefully crafted, though it does seem to fall into a genre trap that I saw pointed out the other week; the dreaded bullshit hipster bike video.  There is something genuine about Long Live The Kings that (I hope) excludes it from being a BS hipster bike video. 

Looking at BHBV's bingo card (left), they seem hit a lot of the hipster bullshit, yet I still want to believe that they are genuine.

With luck The Greasy Hands Preachers will offer some real insight into motorcycling.  I'm hoping against hope that they have interviewed Matt Crawford and are able to present a film that doesn't just paint motorbiking and working on your own machine crudely in a fad that will quickly look out of date.  

Long Live The Kings has moments of philosophical insight that might develop into a deeply reflective documentary in Greasy Hands Preachers.  Crawford's brilliant Shopclass as Soulcraft would be a perfect fit for that approach but I'm afraid the film is going to devolve into another 'ain't bikin fun?' video, this time with a veneer of hipster bullshit on top.


Sneak preview straight from the edit - The Greasy Hands Preachers from SAGS on Vimeo.



THE GREASY HANDS PREACHERS DOCUMENTARY Pre-trailer Kickstarter from SAGS on Vimeo.