BFF & Private Sale

It seems as if the two titled above have a strong link, like shopping is a girl’s favourite thing to do with a best friend. As cliche as it may sound, BFF this time actually refers to Bicycle Film Festival instead of “Best Friends Forever”. This time around for 2009, the Bicycle Film Festival of Melbourne 2009 is happening, bringing people of a particular culture together.

I was so tempted to dress up in skirt since we were going on the tram this time instead of the scooter and Josiah did warn me that the crowd at the Kino cinema would be quite a different one. Indeed men and women appeared in skinny jeans, t-shirt holding their bike helmets and possibly their bike polo equipment (never knew this existed but it does!), like horse polo racing. A culture existed on its own. One of a kind, making me the only girl in the cinema wearing skirt. That also made Josiah pretty different – when I compare the size of his thighs to everyone else in skinny jeans. The only difference is that Josiah is a track cyclist (sprinter in fact) and the others are street cyclists. The similarity would obviously be the passion for bicycles. Apparently, their love for street cycling was like a cult, making them bike messengers and so on.

The film was about the celebration of passion towards bicycles, the culture and the awareness and respect for cyclists. It started off with some short snippets of advertisements featuring sponsors and short community messages for motorists to respect cyclists on the roads and soon after, there were more 5-10 minutes of short film snippets.

According to the boys (Andrew, Dennison, Liam and Josiah), this year’s film wasn’t as good as last year’s. A first time for me, I thought it was quite well done. Well, typical of any film festivals, the movies are usually taken in a particular abstract direction where directors play around with different hues and saturation of picture-making or even black and white film. My favourite one was the illustration of white umbrellas where they turned the umbrellas and colour-pencil drawings of man and woman with their bike moved in a story of togetherness. The final snippet where these two dudes brought the mother’s ashes into her hometown and they cycled all the way there. It only got interesting after they reached the small town and started interviewing people about how the dude’s mother was in her earlier days. At that point, they brought up certain moral values and even questioned the mother’s affiliation for the hometown she requested to return to. Most of those films were from Italy and some from America.

Here’s what they explained about the BFF on their website:

In 2001, Brendt Barbur, Founder and Director, was compelled to start the Bicycle Film Festival after being hit by a bus while riding his bike in New York City. Instead of being deterred by this experience, it inspired him to create a festival that celebrates the bicycle through music, art, and film. Now in its ninth year the festival is held in 39 cities worldwide. 250,000 people are expected to attend this year.

The Bicycle Film Festival celebrates the bicycle in all forms and styles. If you can name it – Tall Bike Jousting, Track Bikes, BMX, Alleycats, Critical Mass, Bike Polo, Road Cycling, Mountain Biking Recumbents – we’ve probably either ridden or screened it. What better way to celebrate these lifestyles than through art, film, music and performance?

We bring together all aspects of bicycling to advocate its ability to transport us in various ways. Ultimately the BFF is about having a good time. We have been fortunate enough to include the work of established artists such as Jorgen Leth, Mike Mills, Jonas Mekas, Blonde Redhead, Swoon and Michel Gondry; as well as talented newcomers as part of our programming. Many of the artists who have participated in the Bicycle Film Festival, such as the Neistat Brothers and Lucas Brunelle, are gaining more and more recognition for their work.

It was quite an eye-opener for me, considering the fact that I really don’t know how to ride the bicycle properly (yes, I vow to be able to ride someday).

After the movie, the boys and I went to have dinner at Seoul Restaurant.

We had yummy kim chi, rice and bulgogi.

The boys had a good time.

Later on, Josiah and I had a mini-date. We found a purse on the street.

Josiah thought I could get some cash out of it to help my shopping.

I was desperately trying to open it because my last purchase was from a private sale by Minx Shop.

Ray and I rummaged through their items, all mostly flown from Korea. Pretty good quality stuff.

You like my new jacket? AUD79.00. I really don’t look like a bicycle chick.

I quite like the fact that I have put on some weight.

Goals by end of 2010:
- Ride bicycle on a frequent basis
- Do the handstand easily

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