UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A film that some Penn State film production students scrambled to shoot while part of a weeklong stay in Amsterdam last spring has blossomed into an award-winning effort.
After an initial idea fell through, a short documentary titled “The Flower Bike Man” became a reality thanks to curiosity and persistence. As a result, the students behind the film have gone from worrying about whether they’d even have something to grade for class to traveling the country and accepting accolades for their work.
The seven-minute film, which tells the story of a man’s love for his wife and how he shows it, has been accepted into nine different film festivals, including the Centre Film Festival, which runs Nov. 11-17. It will be part of a group of films screening at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 10 in Carnegie Cinema at University Park.
So far it has been honored as Best Documentary Short (Student Film) at the Trenton Film Festival and for Best Editing at the San Diego Short Film Festival. That was one of the San Diego festival’s quarterly events, meaning “The Flower Bike Man” qualified for the annual event in March as well.
“It’s been successful, and we’ve been getting some great feedback,” said Courtney Kerr, the film’s director, who earned her bachelor’s degree in film production in May. “People say it’s heartfelt, has inspired them or has moved them to tears.”
Kerr and the rest of the production team — producer Allie Ford, cinematographer Conor McKeirnan and editor Sara Usnick — were the ones almost in tears a few months ago. As part an international documentary production class, they had planned and researched for a film about a former Formula 1 driver who lives in Amsterdam.
But, once they got on site, the film’s potential subject decided he was not interested in participating. The students were left scrambling but eventually found a receptive source for their movie — and he had an interesting story to tell.
“It's safe to say we got a little stressed out. We had been in Amsterdam like two hours, and two months of work was out the window. So, we researched last-minute ideas and walked around the city looking for a story.”
They found contact information for the film’s eventual protagonist on Instagram, reached out there and he responded quickly. The students were polishing their questions on the way to the interview.
“He was the perfect subject,” Kerr said. “He knew how to tell his story. Ultimately, the film turned out well and we’re all happy we ended up with the story.”
While Penn State provided many opportunities for the students to hone their filmmaking skills, none had entered work in a festival before they started pitching “The Flower Bike Man.”
They had some funds remaining from their production budget for the film, though, and were able to cover entry fees for the various festivals. They said they found that many festival opportunities exist and have gladly entered the film where they think it makes sense, with more to come.
Additional festivals that have accepted the film so far are the Amsterdam Lift-Off Film Festival, Bedford International Film Festival, Los Angeles Lift-Off Film Festival, Melbourne Lift-Off Film Festival, New York Lift-Off Film Festival, Paris Lift-Off Film Festival, the New York First-Time Filmmaker Showcase, and the Sydney Lift-Off Film Festival.