A blockbuster movie the premiere, a party of short motorbike films and a colorful crowd of motorbike cinema enthusiasts; Welcome to the Lisbon Motorcycle Film Festival.
Held at Cinema São Jorge—a 78-year-old movie theater on Lisbon’s posh Avenida da Liberdade—the annual Lisbon Motorcycle Film Festival celebrates its eighth edition this year. Eight years is a remarkable feat for such a special event, but it’s easy to understand the appeal when you’re there in person.
Running from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, the event focuses primarily on the movies being shown, with nothing else to distract—and that’s its appeal.
Every day has its own vibe. Convoys of motorbikes crowded the cobblestone walkway outside the venue on Friday night, overshadowing the countless vendors who occupied the street market. A giant illuminated banner hangs from the facade of the São Jorge Cinema, proudly displaying by Adi Gilbert Brilliant poster illustration.
Tickets are sold for each screening and are sold out tonight. LxMFF hosted the coveted premiere of The Bikeriders—a slow-burn epic inspired by and named after Danny Lyon’s groundbreaking photography book. The film’s star-studded cast of Tom Hardy, Austin Butler and Jodie Comer stuns under the guidance of writer-director Jeff Nichols.
Cinema São Jorge’s main theater, the Manoel de Oliveira Room, has a maximum capacity of 800 people — so a second 200-seat theater was opened to accommodate the 1,000 tickets sold for the premiere. When the footage appeared, crowds poured out of the cinema and onto the streets, where Portuguese police had cordoned off the streets for a nighttime ride of 2,000 motorbikes through the streets of Lisbon. Pass by a loan BMW car R 1250 R, it was unlike any big trip I had ever experienced before.
Lisbon’s motorcycling community reflects the city’s personality; dusty but vibrant. Motorcycles of all kinds fly back and forth under the midnight lights of Lisbon; a white Doc Marten-clad rider came charging on a bright red Honda CBR600R to my left, while a giant bagger rolled over me and blew up The Offspring to my right. I barely got out of the first gear.
Saturday’s proceedings began in the afternoon, leaving enough time for festival-goers to shake off the hangover from the previous night’s party. The day is divided into several screenings, each filled with small collections of motorbike-themed short films. Most films are in English, with Portuguese subtitles to please local audiences.
Highlights include Passenger; a haunting film that deals with loss and grief from a motorcyclist’s perspective.
Then there’s the thought-provoking film The Last Motorcycle on Earth, which imagines a near future where motorbikes are on the brink of being outlawed in favor of autonomous vehicles.
After the screening, myself [above center] and Wil Thomas [above left], a filmmaker and one of the stars of The Passenger, is asking for our thoughts on the electric vehicle industry and the future of transportation. The audience was both accommodating and engaging.
Saturday’s main feature is Dark Rider—a feature-length documentary following the Australian Ben Felten when he set out to break the world land speed record for a blind motorcyclist. Directed by Belgian filmmaker Eva Küpper with breathtaking cinematography by Carl Rottiers, this is a film worth seeing.
Ben and Eva are both present, along with Ben’s captain, Paul. They fielded a series of great questions from other deeply engaged audience members after the screening.
Sunday was noticeably quieter as the event began to wind down. First up was a live screening of the French MotoGP (my first time watching motorbike racing in a cinema). As a South African, I naturally cheered loudly when Brad Binder overcame Portuguese superstar Miguel Oliveira; My Portuguese friends were not impressed.
The day passes with more short films (mainly local productions shown in Portuguese). Throughout the weekend, friendships are formed, art is consumed (and then debated fiercely), seafood is consumed, and motorbike rides are taken.
As I devoured another plate of pasta from the pizzeria up the road from my hotel (I mostly ate Italian in Portugal, give it a try), I decided to attend the 2025 Lisbon Motorcycle Film Festival .See you there?
Image by @paclopes | Thanks to the Lisbon Motorcycle Film Festival
