Gap Filler Cycle-powered Cinema

Gap Filler presents… the Cycle-Powered Cinema!

Gap Filler is excited to announce one of its major summer projects – the Cycle-Powered Cinema. This long-awaited project will take place on the former Cycle Trading and Print Stop gap site on the corner of Manchester and Dundas Streets, city (near Pak ‘n’ Save, Moorhouse Avenue). It will run 9 – 11 and 15 – 18 February, with films beginning at sundown. Entry is free.

Local engineers have volunteered their time to design and build ten special stands so that members of the public can generate power while riding their own bicycles. A series of LEDs strap onto people’s handlebars to indicate when they are riding fast enough to charge the battery that runs the projector and sound system. A sequence of lights near the screen indicates whether the team of cyclists is generating enough power at any given moment.

A wide range of films will be screened, including old New Zealand documentaries, contemporary feature films and animations. Highlights include archival footage of the 1938 Round the Gorges Canterbury cycle race with live musical accompaniment by Anita Clark and Simon Gregory; a 1950s National Film Unit cycle safety film featuring a dapper family of chimpanzees; Tim Burton’s 1985 directorial debut Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and the 1948 Italian classic, The Bicycle Thief.

So ride along at sundown, and be prepared to do your bit to power it up! Feel free to turn up early with a picnic. Very limited seating will be provided, so bring a blanket, cushions or your own chairs. In case of rain, check the Gap Filler website for cancellation information. If rain forces the cancellation of any evening, that night’s screening will be shifted to either Sunday 12 February or Sunday 19 February.

For more information about the films and the full screening schedule see: www.gapfiller.org.nz