An easy event to organise around car-free culture is a film night. There are lots to choose from, but these cycling documentaries are classics and provide thought provoking and entertaining viewing. Also included at the bottom of the page is a sample poster.
- Quicksilver is an 1980’s film starring Kevin Bacon, as well as a very young looking Laurence Fishburn, famous as Morpheus in the film The Matrix. This is a classic 80s film, with a classic 80s soundtrack, and is centred on a sub-culture of bicycle messengers in New York. It’s a film with lots of colourful characters, and has some great bicycle sequences, from dramatic runs through traffic, to epic bicycle chases and a classic ‘breakdancing’ style face off but on bicycles, with some stunning moves being pulled off. https://youtu.be/Wa8Fukgt_iQ?si=BWS1Ee5FM2_BXuwf.
- The Unknown Cyclist (1998). Another cycling film with a colourful cast of characters and set amidst the 1990’s gay scene in New York. After the death of a friend from AIDS a group of friends embark on a soul searching 4,500 mile charity cycle ride. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the film online for free so if you want to watch it you’ll have to get it on DVD.
- Return of the Scorcher is one of the most iconic documentaries about cycling and car-free culture. Contains amazing images of China in the 1990s when there were huge levels of cycling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-ENAmcdAyk
- Boy & Bicycle (1965) is the first film made by Ridley Scott. The black and white short was made on 16mm while Scott was a photography student at the Royal College of Art in London in 1962. The storyline has a somewhat otherworldly feel and portrays a teenage boy who plays truant from school and spends the day riding around the town and the deserted beach on his bicycle, letting his mind wander as he imagines he is the only person in the world. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xr7nv1
- We Are Traffic – the classic documentary about the critical mass bike rides: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpsdy24xbLY
- A documentary about the World Naked Bike Ride: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt-u7JLiJCc
- The Humble Magnificent, a documentary about the UK cycling group Bicycology: https://www.bicycology.org.uk/film.html
- A short documentary showing some very strange old bikes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI6lgUlEUFU
- A classic, humorous vintage British Transport cycling film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPkT0paGEnQ
