Reel Riders

After he was hit by a bus while riding his bike, Brendt Barbur could have given up riding; it would have been the logical thing to do. Instead, he was inspired to start the Bicycle Film Festival, now in its ninth year. “I wanted to do something positive for bikes and those who ride them, and something positive for myself from a negative thing,” he says.

The festival has become something of a phenomenon, spreading to 39 cities worldwide, including, for the first time, Denver. “I’ve had Denver on the radar for a while. Colorado is a place a lot of pros in competitive cycling live; there’s just all kinds of biking that happens there,” Barbur says. “Mostly we came for the enthusiasm for biking in Denver. It’s part of a community worldwide; we’re a part of one of the biggest youth cultural movements in the world. I can’t wait to see what Denver has to say.”

The festival gets started tonight with a cruiser ride from the Ginn Mill, 2401 Larimer Street, to Beta, 1909 Blake Street, for a concert with a super-secret headlining act; tickets are $12. Tomorrow is the JoyRide art show — bicycle-centric art, naturally — at Lisa Kowalski Gallery, 2762 Walnut Street, with tunes.

The films come Friday and Saturday, with screenings of Where Are You Go, a documentary chronicling a bike trip through Africa, and several other features, plus a program of shorts. All screenings take place at Starz FilmCenter, in the Tivoli building on the Auraria campus. Tickets are $10, or $27 for a full festival pass. For more info, including a complete schedule of films, visit www.bicyclefilmfestival.com.

Oct. 28-31, 2009