Hood River director shoots teaser for ‘Filmed by Bike’ festival in Union Building

The short film traverses history from the dawn of bikes in media to their current status as emblems of sports and mountain adventure.

The short film serves to hype up audiences for Portland’s 14th annual “Filmed by Bike Festival,” held in May this year at Hollywood Theatre.

“This is what we’ll use to give people a sampling of what the festival’s going to be like … to set the tone, give the vibe of excitement,” festival director Ayleen Crotty said.

A cast and crew of about 30 (roughly half from Hood River, half from Portland) assembled at the basement set Friday morning and knocked out principle shooting by the end of the day. Though planning, props and other preparatory work took weeks, the actual day of action blew by quickly — Marquez attributes that to teamwork.

“Film is such a collaborative art form and all these folks made it come together,” Marquez said.

The director wasn’t sure where to shoot the video until he got permission from Teunis G. Wyers to access the pillar-dense spot on Columbia Street, which once was part of Hood River’s historic fruit packing and storage facility.

“Being in that building did set the tone … having a space in Hood River with so much history,” Marquez said, explaining that a new creative generation had come full circle by using the spot for a film.

Marquez, 36, lives in Hood River with his wife, Leigh, and two sons. He spends a good deal of his life traveling, considering the Columbia Gorge doesn’t have the industry to sustain a full-time documentary director, he said.

Marquez has shot and directed films since he was 12, hashing together Star Trek tribute episodes with his cousins. In adult life, he shot professionally in Los Angeles and documentaries soon became his strong suit.

One of his most well-known projects is “Psychopath,” a 2014 documentary about his uncle, an Oklahoma garbage man whose life dream is to become a special effects makeup artist.

The “Filmed by Bike” short was a chance for Marquez to team up with local friends (including his fellow mountain bikers) and celebrate film history in one stroke.

The piece employs time-honored surrealism — the actors stand before rear-projected backgrounds instead of a green screen, which would “not (be) hokey enough,” Marquez said. “I wanted that handmade charm.”

One scene spoofs Danny Torrance’s ride through the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic, “The Shining.” Instead of two stationary ghost girls, the twins ride identical bikes in Marquez’s video.

Another scene depicts a forest cyclocross event, which involves “hecklers” lining up at the sides of the track yelling out insults, banging noise makers and offering refreshments and snacks. Here, a fully-costumed yeti joins hipsters and lumberjacks who swig beer and pester two bikers.

The biker roles were chosen, in part, for the actors’ real world prowess as athletes. Holland LaRue rides on the Dirty Finger Cycling Team in Hood River and Eric Aldinger races for a Sellwood Cycles team in Portland.

Marquez said he hopes to have a cut of the film finished by the end of January, and the final video will hopefully be posted on the “Filmed by Bike” website in February, as well as the festival’s Facebook page. Dirty Fingers bike shop will also post the video.

For more information, or to bookmark the page, go to www.filmedbybike.org.