I got inspired. It happens sometimes.

The idea: a guerilla cinema in the park. I wanted to inspire people to get outside more, and push what they consider “normal” with bicycles and travel by bike. Inspire people. Inspire myself. I came up with the name (it has a pun!), drew quite a bad logo (that I will, one day, get someone to update for me), picked a date, hoped that the weather would be good, and went for it.

I put the call out over Instagram and my Last Minute Adventure Club Whatsapp group and people were keen.

I didn’t want to have to spend a lot of money to set this up, and didn’t think it was necessary to. I bought a big piece of white fabric to use as the screen – that was around $30. I already have a laptop, amplifier, speakers, and power stuff. The only big-ticket item that I needed that I didn’t have was a projector. I asked on Instagram, and a friend was willing to loan me their projector for the event. Perfect. The park near my house where I was planning to host the cinema has a sneaky power-point that I could tap into. Also perfect.

The big day came. The weather was good. I’d downloaded the videos so I didn’t need to rely on internet while in the park. I had sausages to put on the BBQ. I loaded up the bike and set off for the park. Hung the screen. Set up the projector. Wired the sound. Fired up the BBQ. Everything came together beautifully. People turned up. We chatted. Ate. Watched. Chatted some more.

Magic.

You can follow the Cycling Gorilla Cinema on Instagram now. Follow along here: @cycling_gorilla_cinema

The three films screened were: