a documentary on bicycle collectives.
in denver, we sat in a backyard near the railroad tracks. there was a junk yard to one side and a fifteen foot cinderblock wall on the other. twenty or so kids sat scattered around on the grass watching a documentary called “living room: space & place in infoshop culture.” while i watched, i thought about the importance of documentaries as recordings of history, as story tellers. at the end of the movie, there was a caption that told how Jane Doe Books in brooklyn closed it’s doors in march 2005. i was struck by the transience of the subject matter, the idea that these things don’t last forever, and often go unnoticed by outsiders through their sometimes short life span. i was so happy that there was a record of Jane Doe while it was alive, a record with images and voices and faces. in comparison, Longhaul infoshop in berkley has been around since 1979. but most infoshops come and go, sometimes in less than a year. this is the reality of many radical projects.
i can’t remember when i realized in wanted to document bike collectives. i have always had the urge to document whatever interests me at any given time, and i am constantly challenged at how to be an effective storyteller. when i travelled through denver in september this year, i had the idea of a bike collective video in the back of my mind. i mentioned it to a new acquaintance, and she gave me the address of a place in the city–or rather, she gave me a nearby intersection and the vague description, “they’ve got bicycle wheels in the front yard.” i wandered and eventually found the space, the Derailer Bicycle Collective. i was here, this was history. the documentary project was born, and suddenly i became more than just a traveller.
the project is still extremely young, and i often approach the whole thing as research instead of a documentary. really though, i know that i am driven to make something for audiences, something for education, something easily accessible, and something people will respect as a piece of history. i think a motion picture can do this, and so i push on through the moments when i lack the motivation, when i feel i’m going backwards, when i get my credit card statement every month.
who i’ve met so far:
- derailer bicycle collective - denver, co.
- north porland bike works - portland, or.
- city bikes - portland, or.
- sprockettes - portland, or.
- zoo bomb - portland, or.
- center for appropriate transport - eugene, or.
- bike kitchen - san francisco, ca.
- pedex - berkeley, ca.
- bike church - santa cruz, ca.
- hub for sustainable transportation/people power/pedaler’s express - santa cruz, ca.
- people power - santa cruz, ca.
- bicicocina (bicycle kitchen) - los angeles, ca.
- whirley girls - los angeles, ca.
- bicas - tucson, az.