9:17am Friday 27th November 2009
By Lauren Pyrah
AN international documentary and exhibition with a political message will hold its UK premiere in the North-East.
Beauty and the Bike, which has been nominated for a European Commission award and is due to be screened at film festivals around the world, gets its first UK screening in Darlington next month.
Watch a short of the documentary
Created by Darlington-based film maker Richard Grassick and his German-born wife, Dr Beatrix Wupperman, the film crew and a photographer followed 20 young women from Darlington and Bremen, in Germany, over the course of a year.
The documentary, which discovered that almost none of the Darlington girls cycled while all the Bremen girls cycled daily, examines the cultural, social and physical barriers which prevented the English girls taking to two wheels.
It concludes that politicians must make radical alterations to road infrastructure if they want cycling to flourish in the UK as an everyday means of transport.
As well as being shortlisted for a Sustainable Energy Europe Award, the film has attracted international interest and is expected to be screened in Austin and Texas, in the US; Lisbon, in Portugal, and Melbourne, Australia. It is also expected to be shown at the Valencia Film Festival, in Spain.
Transport Minister Sadiq Khan has requested a copy of the film after watching a trailer during a recent visit to Darlington.
Attending the Darlington premiere will be Bremen MEP Dr Helga Trupel, and a representative from the German Consul, in Middlesbrough. Invitations have also been sent to civic dignitaries from Darlington.
A photographic exhibition and book, which contains pictures from the project and an essay by Dr Wupperman, will also be launched.
Mr Grassick said: “Is it any wonder that cycling is so unpopular in this country? It’s treated a bit like a military expedition by some policy makers.
Cyclists are expected to cope with road dangers by better training and protective gear.”
Photographer Phil Dixon said: “The contrast between the richness of vision in Darlington’s official cycling promotion work and society’s cultural and physical obstacles to gentle cycling became my key focus. Cyclists in the UK are deliberately being put at risk: to be a Beauty on a Bike can be very difficult when infrastructure is so poor.”
■ The film will be screened at Darlington Arts Centre, on December 9, at 7pm, and 8.30pm, with a short question and answer session in between.
The photo exhibitions opens at 5.30pm. Tickets are £3 for adults and £2.50 concessions.
Call 01325-486555.
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