Winner Of TfL's Cycle Revolution Film Competition Announced

North London filmmaker Lee Butterley has beaten stiff competition to triumph in Transport for London's (TfL) Cycle Revolution film competition.
TfL teamed up with Film London and the Bicycle Film Festival to give filmmakers the opportunity to celebrate the spirit of cycling in London through film. They were asked to submit short films of three minutes or under that could take the form of a documentary, animation or drama.
Lee was named the winner by the Mayor's Transport Advisor, Kulveer Ranger, at a special event as part of the International Bicycle Film Festival on Saturday evening. His quirky short film, Simon and Simone serves to remind us all that love can conquer all - with the help of the Mayor's flagship cycle hire scheme!
Lee, from Kilburn, said: "We wanted to make a film which was simple, engaging and also showed how useful and accessible the Cycle Hire scheme is. We recorded the film in one afternoon traversing London from the Barbican to the South Bank to try and get as many iconic locations in as possible.
"What we came up with is an old-fashioned race-against-time, with the Barclays Cycle Hire bike saving the day and bringing two estranged lovers finally together."
Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor of London's Transport Advisor, said: "Some absolutely fantastic films were put together for the competition and each of them captured the energy and excitement that the Mayor's cycling revolution is generating in the capital. But congratulations go to Lee for his superb piece of work. As well as being very good technically, Simon and Simone also put a smile on the faces of the judges."
David Brown, Managing Director of Surface Transport at TfL, said: "There was a real vibrancy to all the films that made the shortlist. They excellently demonstrate how liberating it can be to get on a bike in London. The films served as a wonderful advertisement for cycling in our city."
Adrian Wootton, Chief Executive of Film London, said: "Short filmmaking is widely regarded as the best way for aspiring filmmakers to learn their trade. It is fantastic for Film London to find partners, such as TfL, to offer a filmmaking competition which provides another platform to Londoners to get out there and make short films. Also it is wonderful to be celebrating cycling through filmmaking as London is undergoing an exciting cycling revolution."
The competition was launched to coincide with the arrival in the capital of the Mayor's flagship cycle schemes, Barclays Cycle Hire and Barclays Cycle Superhighways.
In just ten weeks since the launch of Barclays Cycle Hire more than 90,000 members have made over a million journeys between them, boosting cycle journeys in the capital by around 20,000 journeys every week day.
(KMcA)