The Toronto Motorcycle Film Festival has just announced its 2022 lineup, and we’re excited for a return to the theater for this year’s run.
There are only nine films listed for this year’s festival, a mix of shorts and features covering a wide range of the world of motorcycling. See them listed below, at end of the story.
Festival director Caius Tenche says that this year, the festival did not receive the same number of shorter 5-15 minute shorts, explaining the somewhat different-looking lineup this year. There’s only one Canadian entry (Oskar, by director Max Vannienschoot), so the Best Canadian Film award is a contest of one—but Tenche says “the good news is that it’s a beautiful piece of work and warrants an award.” Good news! Otherwise, there will still be Best Feature and Best Short and People’s Choice (voted on by viewers) awards, as usual.
This year’s TMFF runs October 6-8 at Toronto’s Revue Cinema, with later showings at locations in Calgary, and Montreal. Tickets go on sale soon; more details at MotorcycleFilmFest.com.
Chasing Lights
Director: Matthew Sanders
“Two photographers and a cinematographer head out on a trip around Oregon chasing the “magic hour” that comes just after sunrise and before sunset, when daylight is redder and softer than when the sun is higher in the sky and often yielding the best photos. No stylists, no motorhome, no producers – just the guys and a loose plan to find adventure.” (22 minutes)
Earned – The Story of Keith Hale’s 750ss
Director: Roberto Serrini
When he was 20 years old, Keith Hale scraped together enough money to buy a Ducati 750ss. He had no idea that what he was buying what would later be known as the most rare and beautiful bike ever built. He had no idea as he raced it and rode it across America or when he used it every day to commute to his job as a schoolteacher. He had no idea that the bike he took perfect care of his entire life would give him the rest of his life to live out and save him from a life of giving unreciprocated as an educator. This is a simple story of a man, a thing, and learning what it is to earn a valuable life. (28 minutes)
Flat 6 (Plná 6)
Director: Adam Sejk
Kamil Holán is one of the best Czech motorcycle road racers. Although his means and background are far from the level of the world’s factory riders, his skills allow him to compete with them on the world’s toughest roadracing tracks such as the Isle of Man and Pikes Peak. This is the story of Kamil’s everyday life as a father, husband, and son, whose life is consumed by his passion for speed and pushing everything to flat 6 – the moment when the motorcycle is in top gear and at the max of its rev limit. (80 minutes)
Harley Cuban Style (Harley a la Cubana)
Director: Fito Pochat
Vintage Harley-Davidson motorcycles from the 30s and 40s are still rumbling through the streets of Cuba – restored to their full glory and painstakingly maintained using a hodgepodge of salvaged parts and handmade makeshift solutions.
Mandy lives on the outskirts of Havana and dreams of becoming the premiere Harley mechanic on the island. He learned from José Sobrino, his step-father, who is a renown as the best Harley mechanic in all of Cuba. Mandy thinks he’s ready to take over the workshop but Sobrino is not convinced. The young mechanic adores his stepfather but given the refusal, he becomes furious and thinks of making his own destiny far from the house and the workshop. (95 minutes)
Little Giant: The PW50 Story
Director: Dave Larson, Brett Smith
The story of why I rescued, restored and taught my 1st grader how to ride a 40-year-old motorcycle, a 1981 Yamaha PW50. (29 min)
Oskar
Director: Max Vannienschoot
Astride his motorcycle, Oskar speeds through serene landscapes along the North Sea, hoping to avoid a storm that looms over the horizon. Exhausted from running away, he stops on a vast and bright beach to enjoy the comfort of a cigarette as he considers his options and the journey ahead. But this respite is short-lived—the tumultuous weather has already caught up with him. And so, he chooses to turn around and face it. As the storm rages, he is engulfed in its darkness. Will he be able to find his way back to the light? (9 min)
Sfumato
Director: Amirali Mirderikvand
Fatemeh is a young girl who who faces many difficulties in pursuing her passion for motorbikes and simply having the right to use a two-wheeler in the Islamic Republic of Iran. While riding a motorcycle provides her with joy, it also serves as a way to help her family in their rural village. Despite assistance from her dad, she battles preconceived notions from the other villagers about a girl’s role and struggles with getting approval from the authorities who ban her from riding. (30 min)
Speed is Expensive
Director: David Lancaster
When the hammer came down at the Bonhams auction in 2018, a record-setting Vincent motorcycle sold for $1.2 million – making it the most expensive motorcycle in the world. Speed is Expensive tells the story of the man behind this machine: Philip Vincent. His creations would become the most admired and collected motorcycles in the world. But his devotion to speed cost him his fortune and his career. Along the way, his love life was turned upside down and a high-speed crash left him in a coma for months. Why, when his bikes now command millions, did his life end with him unrecognized, penniless and living in public housing in west London?
Ewan McGregor narrates the dramatic story of this flawed genius as told through period film shot by Vincent himself along with intimate interviews with friends, family, record-setters and Vincent fans such as as former F1 and Moto GP World Champion, John Surtees, Clash bassist Paul Simonon and TV presenter Jay Leno among others. (78 minutes)
Where The Road Ends
Director: Jake Hamby
If you know anything about the Darién Gap—a roadless, lawless, sometimes hopeless stretch of jungle between Panama and Colombia—then you know it’s about the last place in the world anyone would want to ride a motorcycle. Except for military veterans Wayne, Simon, Mike and Richard.
From surviving whiteout blizzard conditions in Alaska, to enduring the sweat-soaked misery of the jungle in South America, Where the Road Ends is an honest, unflinching look at life after the military and the questions we all face when the road ahead seems to disappear. (61 minutes)
