Homage to Auto*Mat

Beauty and the Bike's screening in Prague in 2011 coincided with a critical mass ride organised by local NGO Auto*Mat. Here we celebrate the great work of that organisation, and meet some of their enthusiastic young members.

Prague is one of the most car-oriented cities we visited on our tour of the continent, in many ways even more of a nightmare than the UK. Auto*Mat combine engagement with local authorities through the production of cycling-friendly urban development proposals for the municipality, with direct action and participatory events like these monthly critical mass rides. Thousands regularly attend, making them an incredible celebration of a few hours of cycling/skateboarding/scootering on car-free streets. Amazingly, the majority of those take part will bring their bikes in a car or by public transport, rather than risk cycling in ones or twos. It's that dangerous.

One feature of the Critical Mass Ride that really caught our eye was the presence of a number of young people from Danish Embassy. Unlike officialdom and their many hangers-on in the UK, who look down on such street actions as an obstruction to traffic and generally the preserve of the unwashed hooligan, the Danes celebrated the bicycle alongside their Auto*Mat friends by joining in with an official presence, both on the ride and later by joining in the speeches at the ride's destination venue.

Visit Auto*Mat's English-language web presence, at http://www.livable-cities.org/en/prague/prague-about-us/ to get an idea of their work. Or if your Czech is up to it, try http://www.auto-mat.cz/ for the latest news from Prague. Auto*Mat are part of a thriving movement for change in Prague. If you ever visit the city, try ditching the usual tourist crap and instead explore some of the great local projects in and around the lesser-known urban areas. For a useful overview of such initiatives, check out the Urban Garden website.

A Sense of Safety

This great little video has just been posted on YouTube by Leigh Andrews. It explores how young women in London take on crap infrastructure and the need to share road space with motorised traffic by building their self-confidence and taking road space.

Screening Dates

Cycling groups around the world are organising public screenings of Beauty and the Bike. Here is a list of dates and venues coming up in the near future :

Monday May 31st (6:15pm)

Potter Auditorium, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Halifax Cycling Coalition

Tuesday June 15th (evening)

LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney Street, Cambridge, MASS. USA

Boston Liveable Streets

Saturday June 19th (afternoon)

Chesterfield Library, Chesterfield, UK

Chesterfield Bicycle Film Festival

Tuesday June 22nd

Little Theatre, Bath, UK

Bath Cycling Campaign

Friday June 25th (1 to 2 pm)

CM 107, Science Site, Durham University, Cit of Durham, UK

Durham Bicycle Users' Group

Tuesday 29 June ( 8:30pm)

City Screen Picturehouse, York, UK

World Car Free Network

Thursday 1st July (7:30pm)

Landratsamt, Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, Germany.

ADFC Neumarkt

Many screenings are organised informally by cycling advocates. Just let us know well in advance if you plan to screen the film, and we'll post details here.

At the Film Premiere in Darlington

The big day has finally arrived. After a great world premiere in Bremen on the third, yesterday we organised the UK screen premiere to a packed-out audience at Darlington Arts Centre.