Los Ginger Ninjas, Rodando México

Hey film buffs, beatniks, minstrels, followers of troubadour wandering and utility bicycle freaks!
Today I received an email notification from Kickstarter...
That film featuring the Ginger Ninja's 2008 pedal powered musical tour through Mexico has finally been completed and is about to be released at the 'Festival Internacional de Cine' in Guadalajara... Mexico.

Here's a bit of a blurb from Guadalajara film festival website about:
The Ginger Ninjas Ride Mexico
Los Ginger Ninjas, Rodando México (Spanish)
 
Synopsis
The documentary recounts the one-and-only tour in the history of a band, treading Mexico from the United States by bicycle. The members of Los Ginger Ninjas carry their musical instruments on their bikes over 8 thousand kilometers. The group generates its own electricity for the concerts with the bicycles. The documentary illustrates the transformations and conflicts of those characters influenced by the physical and emotional demands of this aforesaid adventure.



I really hope this film will be available in Australia. I'm pretty sure Australia and Mexico are both coded as region 4 so there should be a bunch of DVDs that will be viewable down here. I'll definitely approach the producers to find out how long we will have to wait! Anyone interested in a screening?
Maybe the Deckchair will show it for us. If not I'll just have to rig up a data projector and stereo to the cargo cart chariot and screen the darn thing myself!
See you at the Australian Premier!

The only thing I'm not too impressed with is the name change... I'm so sorry Mr Morkin, I really liked the original title 'Stuck on Earth'! It seemed to cover the all aspects of the ride including the reason behind it. We only have one earth and we must commit ourselves to it's care... the grass is not greener elsewhere... we're stuck here with what we've made of it... The lives of the participants, regardless of having their heads in the clouds their feet, or wheels, remain; sticking to the earth. When plans, materials, relationships fail... we're left feeling like we're stuck here. Ultimately the title says to me Hey we're here right now, lets make the most of it...

I think the original title would have drawn more of an audience but at the end of the day it's a film that's going to appeal mostly to cyclists and all those who'd like to reduce their carbon footprint on the earth. We'll watch it whatever you call it! Please make your film available in Australia.

Balancing the message

Have you heard of the Ginger Ninjas?
If you search them online you'll find a few staggered blog posts, a pretty cool website, maybe some photos of their South American human powered musical tour on bicycles with some pretty radical bikes (Xtracycles, they're awesome!) and you should be able to find a variety of doco style short videos.

I followed their progress through US and Mexico but there were many breaks in transmission... and I thought they'd given up but actually it turns out they were just absorbed in the actual experience of doing it and... well succeeded in unplugging from the virtual world for a while.

Anyway they're trying to release a video of their 2007 tour, which I think will be pretty awesome to watch because they are a band who carry all their gear on bicycles and uses their bikes to generate power for amps electronic instruments etc... and they Ride Xtracycles... and they're just doing it!
Apparently the mad idea to 'Ride to Belize' came up when someone misinterpreted the words of one of their songs! Someone shouted it out and all of a sudden they're packing their gear and cycling away from California on a wild adventure across Mexico headed through some pretty rough and hilly terrain for Belize!

You gotta see it.

I have to thank Adrienne from 'Change your life Ride a bike' for posting on this one first Here. I've subscribed to the Ginger Ninjas blog for ages but their posts are so irregular that I kept thinking they may have come to grief out on the Big broad Highway of life. Nahh They're just out there somewhere doing what the rest of us only dare to read about.






I hope they are able to complete this film, I'm sure there will be plenty of drama to keep us enthralled but honestly I'd watch it just to see them dragging all that gear through the mountains on their bikes!