Hell on Wheels

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Bicycle Film Series
Friday, Nov. 18
6:45 p.m. sharp, doors at 6 p.m.
REI Seattle, 222 Yale Ave. N
Tickets are available in advance through Brown Paper Tickets
Cascade members: $3 General public: $5 In 1994, documentary filmmaker Pepe Danquart won an Academy Award for his short film about racism on a German streetcar, Schwarzfahrer.  He's since turned his lens on sports, with a film about one of the last remaining East German hockey teams ten years after the fall of the Berlin wall, and another about speed rock climbing.

On Friday, November 18th, Cascade will be showing Danquart's unique take on the Tour de France, Hell on Wheels. Going beyond the traditional tour documentary, Hell on Wheels focuses on the courage, the pain and the fear of the riders of the Tour.

Training his lens on German superstar sprinter Eric Zabel and his loyal domestique Rolf Aldag, Danquart captures the thrill of the race and the teamwork behind the stars of the peleton. He also shines light on the Tour's supporting cast - the director sportifs, masseurs, and, of course, the wildly enthusiastic fans.

Reveling in the stunning landscape - from the Alps to the Pyrenees to the Massif Central to Paris - and with a nice dollop of Le Tour's history, Hell on Wheels transcends the sport it celebrates to reveal an astonishing human endeavor.