‘Greatest Hits’ screening celebrates Filmed by Bike Film Festival founder’s retirement

Twenty-one years is a long time for any film festival, so when Filmed by Bike announced its “Greatest Hits” screening on Oct. 26, the organizers had a lot of material to choose from. But some of the most exciting entries came in the form of VHS tapes, presumed lost and newly found, from the festival’s grassroots heyday in the early 2000s.

If you can’t make it to the Cinema 21 in Portland, Oregon, on that particular Thursday evening, don’t worry: All films can be streamed online until the end of the year for an affordable $12 U.S.

The Greatest Hits event is a bittersweet milestone, as it also signals the departure of Filmed by Bike’s founder and festival director, Ayleen Crotty. A transplant from Illinois, Crotty is a difficult personality to summarize: She’s worked as an artist, a nonprofit manager, an event photographer, a website editor, a book author (Best Bike Rides in Portland, Oregon), and owner of a marketing agency, among many other hats.

“It was my original concept to put together a film festival showing bicycle-related movies that would be a fundraiser,” Crotty remembers of its premiere in 2003. “The hype was so high, the attendance was so vibrant, that I quickly realized I was onto something. It was not what I originally set out to do, but when an idea has that kind of enthusiasm behind it from the community, that’s a great indicator that it’s worth pursuing. And here we are, 21 years later.”

For the first few years, Filmed by Bike was a “homegrown” event that attracted mostly Portland-based filmmakers and attendees. Contributors were usually motivated amateurs, with an occasional pro thrown into the mix. Fans were treated not only to films but to live entertainment as well. By its seventh year, the festival started drawing more national entries, and soon Filmed by Bike had arranged touring festivals, which are now licensed by 20 to 50 locations and frequently used as fundraising events for cycling causes.

But the festival’s founder was not reared in a saddle. “I was a late cyclist,” says Crotty, who grew up outside of Chicago. Her childhood home stood on the edge of a gravel driveway and busy road, which discouraged riding a bike. When she enrolled at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, she found a cycle-friendly campus in a small town and fell in love with two-wheeled transport. Crotty studied fine arts and published ‘zines, and her social circle introduced her to the bike-advocacy movement Critical Mass. Inspired, Crotty started her own chapter of Critical Mass in town. An active event-planner in high school, college-age Crotty also worked as a DJ for WEFT 90.3 FM (the community radio station) and ran a film festival at the university.

Filmed By Bike Theater Marquee

“I was really focused on creating artistic [events] that would give people an opportunity to experience the arts in a setting that was radically different from a pristine, white-walled gallery setting, or museum setting,” says Crotty. “The idea of an immersive experience, with art and music, visuals, interactive activities – that’s always been my focus. Film by Bike is the perfect formula of bringing together my love of the arts and interactivity and film and bicycles and advocacy and community-building. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

After graduation, Crotty heard Portland’s siren song, which was particularly sonorous in the late 1990s. She had heard how fellow riders described the town: “Portland is paved with a bicyclist’s gold.”

Crotty and her team have made an indelible mark on Portland and, indeed, the national cycling scene. Although Crotty is stepping down to chase other pursuits, the festival will continue, and her contributions will be fondly remembered.

“As a professional filmmaker, I never really felt like a had a film community – until I found Filmed by Bike,” says Mike Vogel, a professional Portland filmmaker who has contributed numerous shorts to the event, most of them humorous, crowd-pleasing vignettes that cyclists would appreciate above all others.

“I always said I wanted to get to year twenty,” Crotty reflects. “I don’t exactly know why, but twenty made sense to me. I was still having so much fun, to be honest. I never wanted to stop. The filmmakers are amazing. That kept me going. I have many creative interests, and Filmed by Bike is just one of them. I had built up the basic framework for the festival very well. We’ve had a great team over the years. Our systems and processes are excellent. It’s time to hand it over to someone else, who can bring it to the next chapter.”

For information and tickets to the Filmed by Bike Greatest Hits screening, visit filmedbybike.org