Bostonbikefilmfest.org

BBFF 2009 opening night 10 on Flickr – Photo Sharing!

We were finally able to close the books on the 2009 BBFF and donate to both Mass Bike and Bikes not Bombs. I want to thank each and every one of our contributors, and hope to see everyone next year. We’ve already started accepting submissions for 2010, so if you have filmmaking friends, please let them know. We’re also planning on updating our website to a new format this year (courtesy of Kevan Christine, our photographer/graphic designer/webmistress/and all-around go-to gal!), so look for it in the coming months. New merchandise may be on the website for sale as well, and that should be available some time this summer. Hope y’all had a great holiday and keep all your New Year’s resolutions – and hoping one of them is to attend the 2010 Boston Bike Film Festival!

We were finally able to close the books on the 2009 BBFF and donate to both Mass Bike and Bikes not Bombs. I want to thank each and every one of our contributors, and hope to see everyone next year. We’ve already started accepting submissions for 2010, so if you have filmmaking friends, please let them know. We’re also planning on updating our website to a new format this year (courtesy of Kevan Christine, our photographer/graphic designer/webmistress/and all-around go-to gal!), so look for it in the coming months. New merchandise may be on the website for sale as well, and that should be available some time this summer. Hope y’all had a great holiday and keep all your New Year’s resolutions – and hoping one of them is to attend the 2010 Boston Bike Film Festival!

Although I only expected 15-20% of the attendees to return the survey, I was pretty surprised that almost half of the audience responded. Though many people did not care for the final film of Saturday night, an overwhelming 86% said they would return next year. And considering almost 70% of those responding were first-time attendees, that’s pretty exciting! Most who had attended in the past thought we had improved over the past years, and the overwhelming majority were pleased with the film selections. Still very surprised at the number who wanted to do away with the meat option on the Redbone’s buffet, so we’re going to try and have a little more vegetarian variety next year.

And we start accepting film submissions January 1st, so if you have a film, or know someone with a film with a cycling theme, submit to the 6th annual Boston Bike Film Festival for October 2010!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is always with some amount of trepidation that I send out BBFF surveys… but how can I learn if not by looking at where I’ve been? So I just sent out a survey of BBFF09. Despite a couple of harsh criticisms, over 75% (thus far) have said that they would definitely come back next year. And, surprisingly, nearly 80% want to get rid of the meat on the menu! Some people complained they didn’t have enough time for schmoozin’ and others complained that the intermission was too long. The majority also said they liked the films, though some of the harshest critics reserved their most stinging barbs for the final film on Saturday night. I’m sure it didn’t help that we had a 20 minute delay from the projection booth, but honestly, of the people that voted, B.I.K.E. was the highest rated film on Saturday, so go figure. I probably wouldn’t have ended the festival on such a downer note, but it was recommended by a member of the Mass Bike board, so I assumed (wrongly, apparently) that Mass Bike was endorsing it. Live and learn, I guess!

I am relieved that another festival is behind me and already looking ahead to 2010. It looks like we will be donating a nice check for our beneficiaries this year, but until I get the final checks from the silent auction and the bill from the Brattle, I won’t know. Stay tuned!

It is always with some amount of trepidation that I send out BBFF surveys… but how can I learn if not by looking at where I’ve been? So I just sent out a survey of BBFF09. Despite a couple of harsh criticisms, over 75% (thus far) have said that they would definitely come back next year. And, surprisingly, nearly 80% want to get rid of the meat on the menu! Some people complained they didn’t have enough time for schmoozin’ and others complained that the intermission was too long. The majority also said they liked the films, though some of the harshest critics reserved their most stinging barbs for the final film on Saturday night. I’m sure it didn’t help that we had a 20 minute delay from the projection booth, but honestly, of the people that voted, B.I.K.E. was the highest rated film on Saturday, so go figure. I probably wouldn’t have ended the festival on such a downer note, but it was recommended by a member of the Mass Bike board, so I assumed (wrongly, apparently) that Mass Bike was endorsing it. Live and learn, I guess!

I am relieved that another festival is behind me and already looking ahead to 2010. It looks like we will be donating a nice check for our beneficiaries this year, but until I get the final checks from the silent auction and the bill from the Brattle, I won’t know. Stay tuned!

As sorry as I was to have had to postpone our ride last Saturday, I wasn’t at all sorry when I woke up and found Sunday to be bright and beautiful. We had a small group, but, after meeting at Urban Adventours with our tour guide, Ted, we started out on our excursion. We rode along the waterfront, though Chinatown, the Financial District, the Common, up Newbury Street, across the Mass Ave bridge (or as it is properly known, the Harvard Bridge, named after John Harvard, according to Ted!), and ended up in Harvard Square. We saw sites of many movie scenes – old and new, but sadly, no one was filming currently while we were there. Still, I think everyone had a great time, and I’m personally already looking forward to next year.

I will post here and on the website any updates. We’re going to start accepting films for next year’s BBFF starting Jan 1, so hurry up and Come Pedal Your Film!

Phew! A lot of work culminating in what I hope was a good time had by all. The final film of tonight’s roster was definitely not for the squeamish. As mentioned in the program, it was gritty and intense. I think it turned a lot of people off (or maybe it was the delay because of problems in the projection booth), but a lot of people voted for it as their favorite. Unfortunately, fewer people voted tonight than last night so our top three winners are all from last night! #1 was Fat Bike, riding with some very tough cyclists from the 50th state; #2 was a history of mountain biking called, Klunkerz; and #3 was our rapper video called, Performance. Congratulations to the winners and hope to see folks on the postponed ride to the movies tomorrow (actually, today, now). And see you all next year!

We had an energizing night of some really great films, food and fans last night. I look forward to another one this evening. Unfortunately, our movie site ride was rained out. Hope people will still join us tomorrow – it looks to be a sunny and gorgeous day for a ride. We just won’t have the film festival to look forward to at the end

Last night’s audience favorite was Fat Bike, about a group of intrepid Alaskan cyclists and their efforts to ride in some really harsh conditions – including a ride on the Iditarod trail! Once we get the top three audience favorites tonight, we’ll factor in the audience from both nights and come up with the top three overall.

I was given a lovely photography book last night by Federico Muchnik, called, Lost: Abandoned Bicycles of Harvard Square. If you have a chance to check it out, do. It’s lovingly photographed, and as anyone who lives in this area knows, it’s something many of us see every day, but will now look at from a different perspective.

So come on down this evening. We have a whole slew of new silent auction items and door prizes, including a hand built bike trailer by Somerville artisan Doug Moore. And keep supporting bicycling advocacy in greater Boston!

I’m really excited about the film lineup this year. I know I say that every year, but we received some really cool films and I hope everyone thinks so too.

I am sad to say that the weather looks really unpleasant for a ride on Saturday, and we may have to change our BBFF Rides to the Movies to Sunday, which looks much nicer. If so, we’ll make that announcement on the website, on Friday night, and via Urban Adventours (where you can rent a bike if you want to just for this ride). I’m excited about the ride, too, so I hope we can do it!

See you at the movies!