LAST CHANCE! North Bay Bicycle Film Festival ends Sunday!

Only two days left! Check out the North Bay Bicycle Film Festival this weekend - you will be moved, you will be inspired, you will be entertained - and you will be supporting the advocacy efforts of the Sonoma, Marin, and Napa Bicycle Coalitions.

After a short intro from the participating organizations, the festival features nine shorts filmed in locations ranging from New York to Colorado, from Amsterdam to Nigeria. Here’s just a short synopsis of our favorites:

Starboy, the leader of a small BMX group in the capital of Nigeria, credits his involvement in BMX with turning him away from life as a gangster to a productive member of his community.

King of the Mountain features Samuel Mugisha, a young member of the Rwandan national cycling team, who uses his prestige and income to lift up his family and neighborhood.

Mama Agatha, a 60-year-old from Ghana, teaches immigrant women in Amsterdam how to ride bicycles. The joy on the faces of these ladies is infectious!

The protagonist of Get Off, unfortunately, is denied that joy; Iranian women are not allowed to ride bicycles. The pain on her face after her bike is seized by the police is heart-wrenching.

The mountain biking Lesbian couple featured in Life of Pie own a pizza parlor in a small conservative Colorado town; while they do experience discrimination they focus on the joy of riding and the community they are creating around their business. (If I am ever in Fruita, CO I will definitely go have a slice at the Hot Tomato!)

These uplifting stories remind me of how good we have it here, and share one overarching theme: FREEDOM. Physical freedom, freedom of the spirit, freedom to dream, freedom to create the life you want. What do I most remember about the day I learned to ride a bike? The feeling of freedom.

The Bicycle Film Festival runs online through December 20 and is sponsored by Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition along with our counterparts in Marin and Napa. Tickets are $15. You owe it to yourself to see it!

Tickets here.