Bristol has a massive and constantly growing MTB scene with regular events, great people and positive vibes all round.
This week saw the premiere of Anthill Films’ latest creation, Not2Bad being held at a Bristol cycling landmark, The Mud Dock.
We sent Ben along to check it out.
Canadian MTB film company, Anthill films are the crew behind some of the biggest and most visually stunning MTB films in recent years, including Not Bad, UnReal, Arrival and Strength in Numbers. A far cry from the rough and ready, hand-held style of film epitomised by A Slice of British Pie, these are big budget productions. Think cable cams, drones, helicopters, and cameras worth more than your house!
In case you have not seen the first film, Not Bad, here is a little teaser clip from it, showing some of the insanity and creativity that these guys produce:
Not2Bad continues in the same style with an emphasis on big air time, mad tricks and lots of mucking about with the crew in between riding segments. The rider list is made up entirely of Trek’s finest, with the likes of Semenuk, Rheeder, McCaul, Shandro, Howard, the Athertons and Casey Brown all throwing down in their own unique styles.
Like the first film, this one is beautifully shot and the locations are breathtaking with some truly unique lines and tricks being integrated into ruined villages and bare hillsides alike. For me one of the most rad segments of the film was Rachel Atherton and Casey Brown chasing each other down dusty, blown out trails and hitting some properly big senders. It was so cool to see women riding so hard and with so much style. I am not saying that they looked good on film ‘for a couple of girls.’ Far from it. I am saying that these two women are fucking amazing riders and it was a refreshing change to see a fully legit women’s riding segment in a big budget film. More of this please!
Not2Bad will be available on iTunes in the next few weeks and you will have to wait until then to see it because there are currently no more UK premiere dates scheduled.
Big thanks to James and the crew at Mud Dock for putting on such a good night and for feeding us some mega tasty burgers!
