For nine strong years, Filmed by Bike has been on a hunt for the very best bike movies. In the early years, there were not a lot of movies out there. And they came to us on clunky VHS tapes, and all the hiccups that come from that outdated format.

We’ve come a long way since then, thanks to the hundreds of filmmakers who submit their movies to our festival.

The deadline for movie submissions to our 2011 festival is 1/26/2011. If you live in Portland, you may drop off your movie in person. See the call for entries page for details.

We can’t wait to see what you’ve got!

Every year we put out the call for jury ideas and we’re flooded with nominations for stellar people to be our movie selectors. This year we’ve assembled a stellar crew of nine people who will wade through endless hours of movies with a keen eye and a tumbler full of bourbon.

Let’s just get this part out of the way: Yes, you can bribe the jury. They like bourbon and other yummy stuff, too. It’s totally okay to slip a $20 in with your submission or otherwise try to sway this brazen bunch.

We’d like to cordially introduce you to the 2011 jury, a merry mix of extremely talented folks that includes Filmed by Bike’s biggest fan, a film journalist, a bike builder and a car-free filmmaker and film instructor who recently moved to Portland. We welcome aboard Heidi Swift, Nate Mescke, Aaron Mesh, Jim Anderson, Mary Nichols, Timo Forsberg, Rebecca Hamilton, Brenda Grell and Patrick Hughey.

Get to know our jury by reading more about them on the Jury Bios page.

Movie submissions are due 1/20/2011. More info >>

Oh the Places You Will Go to Film by Bike

(A poetic interpretation of one man’s adventures in filming and biking: about filmmaker Mike Vogel)

Meet Mike

     Who likes to film by bike.

But we ask would he dare

     Film by bike anywhere?

Would he film on a crane?

     Could he film in the rain?

I would film on a crane

     I would film in the rain.

I would film here or there,

     I would film anywhere.

Would he film in a pick-up truck,

     All the way to Lady Luck?

Where he and his crew,

     Could get a shot of my tattoo?

Yes in a truck, to Lady Luck

I would go, to prove it so.

That I would film here or there,

     I would film anywhere.

I bet he wouldn’t on Hawthorne Bridge,

     It’s vertically filming on a ridge.

Shy away from the bridge, I would not

     If it meant getting the perfect shot.

I would film here or there,

     I would film anywhere.

He wouldn’t, he couldn’t if it were against the law.

I would and could if I thought no one saw.

I would film here or there,

     I would film anywhere.

I guess it’s true, I guess it’s so

     There is not a place Mike wouldn’t go.

So the question remains, the places you will go

     In order to be in the Filmed By Bike Show.

Drawing inspiration from drawings is not just a process exclusive to big guns such as Marvel and DC Comics, but something animator Carlos Maya has perfected for Filmed by Bike in his shorts like “Big Wheel Bounce”, a 30-second complex animated piece that showed in our 2009 festival.

I would never describe my Saturday morning cartoons as a very thoughtful effort, except perhaps to decide which sugar cereal goes best with reruns of Captain Planet. For Carlos, though, this is when the thinking cap comes on. An animator by trade, Carlos’ ten years of experience have helped prepare him to be a front runner for past Filmed by Bike festivals. His inspiration from cartoons is the fuel behind his passion. Drawing from the archives of classic School House Rock, Carlos sets forth to bring out originality, personality and something completely new through his work.

Carlos offers up this advice for all of you aspiring filmmakers: “Do what you love, even if it does not make sense.” Maybe for Carlos doing what you love means cartoons and making people laugh, but for you it could mean something different. Find out what it is that you love and start filming. We can’t wait to see.

The deadline for Filmed by Bike submissions 1/20/2011 and you can learn more at our Best of the Worst (What not to do) event on November 6th. Details here >>

What makes a great Filmed by Bike movie? Find out by watching the worst ever festival submissions at The Best of the Worst (what not to do) on November 6th at The Art Department (1315 SE 9th, at Madison). The event is an ongoing program of submissions rejected by the jury. Painful? Likely. Hilarious? Yes. Terribly awesome? Most definitely.

There will be a bar, food, filmmaker mini-talks and a jury opinion panel. This event marks the opening of our Call for Entries season. We will also be unveiling the fresh 2011 festival trailer by Daniel Hill.

The Best of the Worst (what not to do) is an ongoing looped program from 8:00-10:30p, so you may arrive at any time. Entrants will receive a wristband to come and go freely throughout the night.

MORE INFO >>

Summertime! What a great time to be out shooting your next bike movie for Filmed by Bike. Deadline for entries is 1/20/2011. Sure, you’ve got plenty of time to get that piece together, but nothing ruins a shooting session more than a downpour of rain, something not likely to happen at this time of year (depending on where you live).

So grab your camera and head on out to document your fun summertime adventures or put to work on earnest shooting effort that will afford you plenty of time to edit down your awesome piece for next year’s festival.

Good luck and happy summertime bike adventures from all of us on Team Filmed by Bike!

In Portland, the name Lars Larsen may ring a bell – of alarm: the conservative talk show host (Larson) is well known for giving bikers a hard time. But there’s another Lars in town who is fighting more for good than evil: Lars C. Larsen. This Lars is a Portland based filmmaker who has been involved with Filmed by Bike for four years now. With his films, Lars brings a creative approach to the festival, such as the ultra-short 2009 Speed Kills that was shot with a cool vintage effect.

Lars’s films have appeared in the Chicago Underground Film Festival, the Caucophany Film Festival, at San Francisco Film Arts, the Humboldt International Film Festival and now for the fourth time at Filmed By Bike. Lars is currently working on the TNT drama series Leverage and he has previously worked on Coraline, The Hunted, and several TV and film productions shot in and around Portland.

Lars’s most recent film Go! Paperboy! will show in Program 1. Program details >>

The deadline for submissions for the 8th Annual Filmed by Bike is February 15, 2010. That means submissions are rolling in and our mailbox is overflowing. It’s nice to think about films that were envisioned, filmed, edited and finalized a while ago, giving the filmmaker ample time to meet the deadline. But the reality is that many filmmakers are still working on the final touches.

So we thought we’d take a moment to cheer you on. If you were in the room with us, we’d bring out our team of cheerleaders on bikes. Best of luck! We can’t wait to see what you’ve got.

Calling all filmmakers!

You’ve got just a little more time to submit your entries to the 2009 festival. Submissions are limited to eight minutes so wrap it up, drop it in the mail and get ‘er on over to us.

Our esteemed jury will select the final program of movies to be screened April 17-23 at the Clinton Street Theater in Portland, Oregon.

Filmmaker Oliver Ogden first heard about Filmed by Bike by seeing posters up at some of his favorite haunts. He was quickly inspired to work on a movie, and set about brainstorming ideas. “As a filmmaker and bike enthusiast,” he says, “I didn’t want to pass this opportunity to brush elbows with like minded Portlanders.”

One night, unable to sleep and continuously thinking of movie ideas, Ogden was struck with nostalgia for the fond memories of his youth, and he came up with the concept for Derailed, which will debut at this year’s Filmed by Bike. “The question arose,” he says, “can someone return to those idyllic carefree times while being weighed down by life’s trivialities?”

To find out Ogden’s take on that question, you’ll have to come see Derailed, which is part of the Pump it Up program. Showings: Fri 7,9 // Sat 5 // Sun 7,9