Böikzmöind dir. Gavin Strange (2011)

Böikzmöind is a half-hour doc on Bristol’s fixed-gear cycling scene, and more broadly on fixie culture in general. It’s well shot, slickly edited, and smart about what it makes time for: as you might expect from a movie made by enthusiasts it’s brimming with all kinds of positivity. Each successive interviewee and rider has a new angle on why they love riding fixed, and their passion is infectious. Bristol, which features just as prominently as any one rider, also comes through looking like a challenging but pretty idyllic space to cycle.

The whole feel of the doc is impressively thought through: it has a great selection of music via Bristol’s Invada Records, and the red & white colour scheme, and bold typography give the whole thing a simple, clean, cohesive identity. The credit sequences in particular show a really strong aesthetic, and the website carries all this over neatly¹.

It’s great to see a well made document of a scene like this, which feels born very naturally out of a desire to showcase the people and their passion. Those extraneous umlauts are a clue to the film’s tone, which takes its subjects about as seriously as they take themselves. Ultimately that’s what makes the whole thing so entertaining.

I’d definitely also recommend checking out the 4-minute short Fixed & Chips over on Böikzmöind’s Vimeo page.