What would you say to watching a movie in a forest or a valley and powering the projector yourself along with other audience members? For several years now, France-based association Cinécyclo has been offering alternative cinema screenings, in the middle of nature, where the public is invited to come and pedal a bicycle that serves to generate energy for the projection. This fun and participative concept is now being exported to Senegal and Ecuador.
As its name indicates, Cinécyclo combines cinema with cycling, which allows it to bring culture to isolated places through open-air screenings. All the material necessary for the projection fits into two bags attached to a bicycle. On one side is the material generating the necessary power for the whole endeavor, while the other side holds the video projector and the sound system broadcasting the film.
In this way, Cinécyclo recreates the magic of a traditional cinema session, though one not bound by a theater venue but in unique, bucolic and often isolated locations.
In addition to the association's volunteers, any spectators who wish to contribute to generating the power for the movie screening are encouraged to take turns on the bike throughout the projection where their efforts to pedal make the energy generator work. A pace of about 10 to 15 km/h is more than enough.
The films shown are in line with the values of the association. They are mainly short films related to the environment as well as documentaries.
Cinécyclo tours through villages in France but also holds screenings abroad, in Senegal and Ecuador. The association also offers an educational kit for primary school students on the themes of the environment, energy and solidarity, to be downloaded from the Cinécyclo website.
