TMFF Cinema just added a new documentary series this week, focused on travel along the age-old Silk Route, with a bit of a twist.
Remember, the Toronto Motorcycle Film Festival started experimenting with online screenings in 2020, as a way to work around COVID-19 issues. Now, the festival has launched TMFF Cinema as a “Netflix of motorcycles,” streaming moto-films on-demand through the website, and updating the catalog regularly.
For the next few Wednesday, TMFF Cinema is releasing weekly episodes of A Musical Journey on the Silk Route. Here’s TMFF’s description of the new series:
“Sylvain and Mathieu are musicians and filmmakers on a mission to make a positive difference in the world. On a pair of old 1970s Royal Enfield motorcycles with recording gear in tow, they’re travelling the Silk Route, embedding themselves in the local cultures, meeting musicians and recording traditional songs performed by children from disadvantaged communities. They’re shining a spotlight on social projects happening across the Route’s 17 countries and donating the proceeds raised by the sale of the recordings back to the schools. Of course, not everything on the trip goes according to their plan. The old bikes keep things interesting with unexpected events in the middle of nowhere and in extreme conditions.
Take an adrenaline-filled motorcycle adventure, mix in culture, music, and a heap of social goodness and what you get is an epic and heartwarming narrative about the beauty of helping others.”
Not very hairy-chested, by the sounds of it. Where are the two-fisted tales of ADV derring-do?
Sorry, kids, but there’s a lot more to adventure travel than ripping wheelies through the Kalahari. And frankly, it sounds a lot more interesting than putting yourself on a bus instead of riding your motorcycle, and still calling it a bike trip. Not that we’ve had a recent high-profile docu-series that did just that …
You can see the new film, and the rest of the titles the TMFF has available, at the streaming service’s website.