Bikes Vs Cars
2015|88min|Sweden
Directed by Fredrik Gertten
CLASSIFICATION:
This film has been exempt from classification and is restricted to persons aged 15 and over unless accompanied by an adult.
A beautifully toned look at the struggle of everyday people to make the bicycle not only a viable, but safe, mode of transportation.” – Criterion Cast
Traffic gridlock around the world is frustrating people, wasting their time, polluting the air and contributing to climate change. Director Fredrik Gertten (BANANAS! and Big Boys Gone Bananas!) investigates the daily global spectacle of traffic and looks for solutions.
Following bicycle activists’ crusades to foster meaningful change, the film documents the struggle for bicyclists in a society dominated by cars.
From bike activists in Sao Paulo and Los Angeles, fighting for safe bike lanes, to the city of Copenhagen, where forty percent commute daily by bike, Bikes Vs Cars considers the revolutionary changes that could take place if more cities made room for bicyclists.
SPEAKERS
Speaking @ Bikes Vs Cars Councillor Phillip Martin is the Adelaide City Council’s representative for North Adelaide. He is a former ABC and SBS senior executive and wants to see a long term strategy we can all agree on for pedestrians, cars, bikes, buses and parking and the powers we need to have a say in what happens in our neighbourhood.
Speaking @ Bikes Vs Cars Mel Waters is one of the founding members of Adelaide Bike Kitchen in Bowden and has since moved on to their own project ‘Honeybee Cycles’. The bike shop sets out to be unlike any other bike shop in Adelaide. Honeybee’s vision is to change one car use per week with a bike commute. It sets out to achieve this is by offering a range of products making this transition seamless and by offering affordable and inclusive service. Having cycled through Tasmania, South Thailand and on a solo adventure in Northern Thailand, Mel is also keen to inspire others to travel the country and the world on their bike. Alongside running Honeybee Cycles Mel is studying a Gender and Sexuality course at Adelaide University and finishing their undergrad in Environmental Policy and Management at Adelaide University. Mel is also a Gender and Sexually Diverse Mental Health Ambassador and Peer Worker for the Mental Illness Fellowship of South Australia.
Speaking @ Bikes Vs Cars Paul Sutton is a professor of Environmental Science in the school of Natural and Built Environments at UniSA. His research explores his concerns with environmental degradation and overpopulation. Dr. Sutton pursued an educational path that enabled him to work on issues of social justice and sustainability science. He teaches courses in Ecological Economics, Statistics, Sustainability Science, and Population Geography. His research interests span a broad spectrum and include developing models that use nighttime satellite imagery as a proxy measure of human phenomena such as population, urban extent, pavement, economic activity, CO2 emissions, and ecological footprints. He also engages in the mapping and economic valuation of ecosystem services. This work helps expose the flawed logic of capitalism that is currently preventing us from charting a path to a sustainable and desirable future. 