Ann Arbor Hosts 25th Annual Bicycle Film Festival
The Bicycle Film Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary on Saturday, March 1, at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. Last year’s sold-out shows prompted this year’s move to a larger facility.
During the festival, attendees enjoyed a curated screening of short films featuring bicycles. The event was hosted by the Bicycle Alliance of Washtenaw and co-sponsored by the Downtown Development Authority and Walk Bike Washtenaw. Proceeds from ticket sales helped to support the Bicycle Alliance’s work throughout the year.
One local film production screened during the festival featured filmmaker and University of Michigan-Dearborn journalism and screen studies professor Jennifer Proctor, director of “The Loop of Pain.”
In the film, Proctor explores her love affair for mountain biking by using cycling as a “metaphor for her creative process and the best way to clear her head when she needs to approach that process with a re-booted perspective,” according to a Substack post by the Bicycle Alliance of Washtenaw.
Proctor explained that cycling and “film nerdery” grabbed her attention around the same time earlier in her life. Reels and wheels, she said, are “historical cousins.”
After adjusting to Michigan winters with weather unlike what she experienced growing up in Marin County, California, the birthplace of mountain biking, Proctor said exploring Washtenaw County on two wheels has helped her feel at home here.
According to the Bicycle Alliance’s website, the Bicycle Film Festival has celebrated bicycles through art, film, and music over the last two decades. During that time, it has reached more than 100 cities across the globe and has entertained audiences of more than a million people.
Learn more about the Bicycle Alliance of Washtenaw on the organization’s website.
