The power of cinema and the moving image brings us all together. We applaud the NSG program for finding ways in these difficult COVID times to still encourage community interaction with proper physical distancing. This idea of a mobile bicycle-powered cinema was born from the challenges of this pandemic. And we are delighted to say that we achieved and surpassed our wildest dreams!
Meeting every Sunday – from July 5 to September 27, 2020 – the Magical FilmCYCLE captivated the hearts and minds of the community. On 12 separate and specific evening rides we met at dusk at Victoria Park but then from there, each journey would be unique. We had a dedicated crew that would ride along watching films as we rode but we also stopped along the way for 15-minute intervals in many of the wonderful parks in East Vancouver to allow people with mobility issues and/or no access to a bicycle to enjoy the short films. Some of our locations where we stopped to screen films include Grandview Park, MacLean Park, Trout Lake, Strathcona Park, Woodland Park, Andy Livingston Park, Oppenheimer Park, Trillium Park, and the many, many roads in-between them all!
We learned that people are hungry and eager to commune with their peers and community and get outside to laugh, cry and dream in these COVID times. There were SO MANY memorable moments but one of the sweetest was when a young mother and her child waved us down as we rode by. The mother said her that her 5-year daughter had seen us ride by from outside her window a few weeks before and couldn’t stop talking about the magical movie bicycle. Luckily, now we were able to stop, meet and share the wonder of cinema with this young family!
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