Pedal-Powered Cinema

A cinema powered by a single bicycle was trialled for the first time by UFP in a remote African village.

The world’s first pedal-powered cinema has given hope to the Udzungwa Forest Project, which until now has focussed most of its educational work on primary school children. This mobile cinema was taken to Katurukila village on the edge of the threatened Magombera forest, where 500 villagers watched a film about the importance of forests for providing water and preventing drought. This was the first showing of a pedal-powered film in Tanzania.

The pedal-powered field cinema was born from a collaboration between Electric Pedals and the Great Ape Film Initiative (GAFI) in 2010. The field cinema is still in development, but has now been trialled in a number of countries. It runs using an ordinary bicycle mounted on a bike training stand which has had a dynamo motor built into it. As the back wheel turns it rotates the dynamo which generates electricity. At the heart of the cinema is an “Ultra Capacitor” which smooths the electricity before powering the projector, DVD and speaker. It also provides enough storage to quickly change riders when they get tired!

In Africa, children typically must travel several miles to attend primary school and most do not attend secondary school at all. While numbers attending school are slowly increasing thanks to international aid money, the adult population receives little educational support. Environmental education is also largely non-existent, thus presenting a real challenge for conservation projects. Teaching people about forest conservation in remote African villages thus requires a huge amount of dedication, and clever techniques like this are exactly what is needed to get these difficult messages across.

UFP Project Co-ordinator Fadhili Njilima said, “The villagers were astounded by this magical invention, and were extremely grateful. Even television is a special thing in these far-flung villages, but a cinema powered by a bike... just imagine!”

Environmental education films will now be shown on the pedal-powered cinema once per month in each of the four target villages around Magombera forest. Without the need for batteries or electricity, it is hoped that the pedal-powered cinema can be used for several years without interruption, so now the only limit is the number of films available. UFP are keen to hear of any sources of educational films on forests or wildlife in the Swahili language so that there are enough to continue the event.