Establishing a new partnership continuing their respective focus on supporting local artists and culture, RIDE Solutions and the Grandin Theatre have announced that the Bike Shorts Film Festival will now premiere at the iconic cinema house in Roanoke’s Grandin Village on Friday, May 1st, 2015.
The Bike Shorts Film Festival, now entering its fifth year, features short films – 10 minutes long or less – that somehow feature a bicycle. Past films have covered topics as varied as documentaries, zombie flicks, and science fiction features. RIDE Solutions has received and screened submissions from all over the world, and past winners of the Bike Shorts Film Festival have had selections accepted into Portland, Oregon’s famous Filmed by Bike festival.
“This event has been a prime opportunity for us to tell stories about how bicycles are an important part of our community,” says RIDE Solutions Program Director Jeremy Holmes. “And as one of the only opportunities for local filmmakers to get their worked screened in the region, we’re thrilled to be able to work with the Grandin Theatre to reestablish community filmmaking and highlight the incredible talent we have right here in southwest and central Virginia.”
The Bike Shorts Film Festival will anchor a new weekend-long 2015 Grandin Theatre Film Festival. The festival will features works as varied as Rear Window, Blade Runner, and The Princess Bride to The Battleship Potemkin, The Great Dictator and Oscar Micheaux’s Body and Soul. The festival will run from Thursday April 30 through Sunday May 3.
“The Theatre is elated to be hosting this established event and to be working with the Regional Commission and Ride Solutions,” said Ian Fortier, the Grandin Theatre’s Executive Director. “This type of community based and socially relevant programming aligns directly with our goal of having the Grandin Theatre serve as a fully accessible, community based, multi-use facility.”
Advance tickets are on sale at the Grandin Theatre website, http://www.grandintheatre.com. Previous Bike Shorts Film Festival selections are available for viewing at http://www.youtube.com/bikeshortsroanoke.
The Bike Shorts Film Festival inaugurates a month of activities celebrating National Bike Month in Southwest and Central Virginia, including events like the Clean Commute Challenge and Night Rider’s Ball. In addition to its Roanoke premiere, the Bike Shorts Film Festival will have additional regional screenings at Lynchburg’s Center for the Arts on Saturday, May 16th and at Blacksburg’s Lyric Theater on Saturday, May 30th. More information can be found at ridesolutions.org/bikeshorts.