Normally, I only post my own writing on here, but this is a project near and dear to my heart, and one that I’ve spent a lot of time working on. Check out this info about Afghan Cycles, the documentary, and if you (or someone you know) can help sponsor the project or the team, please reach out by emailing them (info at the bottom) or me at mollyhurford@yahoo.com. Thanks for checking it out!
LET MEDIA launches short documentary film trailer and website about the Afghan Women’s National Cycling Team.
Seattle, Wash. (November 19, 2013): As Susan B Anthony declared in 1896, “The bicycle has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives a woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. The moment she takes her seat she knows she can’t get into harm unless she gets off her bicycle, and away she goes, the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”
Afghan Cycles is a short documentary that not only highlights the Afghan National Women’s Cycling team through their mountainous training sessions on the backroads and highways outside of Kabul; this film also shares intimate looks at the lives of these female teammates when they’re not on their bikes. Working with an Afghan translator and consciously entering teammates homes, the directors took a close look at what it means to be a woman in the male dominated and war-torn country; while challenging gender barriers and setting an example for Afghan women at home and empowering women worldwide.
Today we are grateful to not only launch the trailer for Afghan Cycles, but to officially launch the new website. We encourage you to pause to take in the message of the trailer, and to then share it amongst your own friends and family. To view the trailer, please click here: Afghan Cycles Trailer. The website has also been set up to allow for donations, in addition to taking Afghan Cycles newsletter signups, so please consider doing both, in order to help us share this global message.
This documentary is a Let Media production, directed by filmmaker Sarah Menzies. Whitney Conner Clapper of Side of the Road Sessions is joining the team as the Co-Director and Executive Producer, bringing a strong background in both women’s studies and marketing. The non-profit partner of the film is founder of Mountain2Mountain Shannon Galpin, who has spent the last 5 years working with women and children in Afghanistan, and was the first and so far only foreign woman to mountain bike in Afghanistan. She was also nominated as a 2013 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year for her humanitarian work in Afghanistan.
To learn more about Afghan Cycles, please visit the Afghan Cycles website. You can also follow more of the adventure on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To take part in this story, and to help us pedal a revolution, please consider donating to: Afghan Cycles.
