The Mountain Film Festival in Telluride, CO starts this week and we’re psyched because there are a few bicycle movies in the line-up. One in particular, With My Own Two Wheels, has a personal connection from our travels on the Trail Care Crew. We were fortunate to meet the producer/co-director of the film, Jacob Seigel-Boettner, during our visit to Santa Barbara, CA in March.
I didn’t fully understand the impact that the bicycle could have for those without access to motorized transportation until college when I spent a semester in Rwanda working for Project Rwanda, an organization that developed and distributed specially-designed cargo bikes to coffee farmers. Just seeing the sheer number of ways that people used their bikes in Rwanda was an eye opener. I saw bikes loaded down with dozens of chickens, huge stacks of jerry cans, piles of firewood, entire families. It definitely made me realize how much I had taken the bike for granted, and the potential that two wheels could have around the world.
I have to say the most surprising part of the trip however was the across-the-board openness that all of the people we filmed had towards us. We were very worried that given our short timeframe for shooting in each country (only 5 days in Zambia), we wouldn’t be able to make enough of a connection with our subjects and thus wouldn’t get the sort of intimate day-in-the-life footage that we were looking for. Wow. Couldn’t have been more wrong. I don’t know if it was just luck, but all five characters completely opened up their lives to us…
Tag: bicycle as a vehicle for change