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Bike Messenger: "Red Lights Mean Go Faster"
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 31, 2012
Modified Jul 31, 2012
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Messengers
By
John Del Signore
Published Jul 31, 2012
Modified Jul 31, 2012
Share
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For the past decade, filmmaker and cyclist Daniel Leeb has been documenting the lives of bike messengers on and off the job in NYC. He's accumulated 500 hours of footage, which he's currently whittling down into what will be a feature-length documentary called Messengers. Here's the trailer for the project, which looks pretty darn interesting:
Leeb launched a Kickstarter for the project today; he's trying to raise $60,00 to complete a rough cut of his film, which he says tells "the true story of the world's fastest bike messengers racing each other and the clock in a dangerous underground urban subculture. They risk their lives for their clients - in the rain, sleet and snow, everyday from sunrise to sunset. And although they are as much a part of the city landscape as the taxis, they are largely invisible. They are looked down upon, ignored, and often cursed by drivers and pedestrians alike."
Of course, some of those "curses" unleashed by drivers and pedestrians aren't too hard to explain—as one bike messenger in the preview explains, "The red lights, they mean 'go faster.' " Eat your heart out, Joseph Gordon-Levitt!
Tagged
bike messenger
cycling
cyclists
messengers
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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