Roland Tec's WE PEDAL UPHILL Premieres At Cinema Village 3/20

Writer/Director Roland Tec's (All The Rage) latest film, WE PEDAL UPHILL: Stories From The States 2001-2008, will open its theatrical engagement in New York at the Cinema Village on March 20, 2009.

After the 2004 election, and troubled by the climate of fear taking hold of the country, Writer/Director Roland Tec began taking notes. Clipping news stories from the country he saw transforming before him, Tec let his imagination roam where the headlines left off. And so were born the thirteen vignettes that make up this penetrating look at a country mired in one of its darkest periods.

The thirteen stories that make up this tapestry of American life offer an intimate portrait of individuals and the countless ways they either stood against the tide of fear or found themselves helplessly swept up in it. From the mother who worries that her son, prone to controversy and speaking his mind, will meet the same end as her husband-a violent death; to the gay teenage son of a right-wing politician; to a group of PR handlers arguing over the perfect spot for a Presidential Photo Op; and to the hurricane that brought so many of vastly different backgrounds together (albeit too briefly), the characters fleshed out in this tapestry of modern American life will haunt us for years and make us wonder what has become of "The Land of the Free."

Now, as it seems the country may be turning a corner, this collection of vignettes serves as a reminder of how dangerously close we came to the abyss but more importantly it also stands as a testament to the countless tiny acts of bravery from all corners of the nation that may have saved us all.

Shot in more than a dozen states and over a period of two years, WE PEDAL UPHILL features some spectacular performances by award-winning Broadway and Off-Broadway actors including: David Drake, Alvin Epstein, Charles Parnell, Judith Barcroft, Kate Blumberg, Jenny Bacon and Marylouise Burke, among others.

Roland Tec was the first artist to be represented simultaneously in both the music and the film sections of the prestigious SXSW Festival - at one end of town he could be seen performing on stage with his opera company while down the road, screenings for his feature film, All the Rage were sold out.

Such range is typical of his career, which encompasses music, theatre, opera and film. In 1995 his short, Hooking Up, an exploration of the language of the one-night stand, toured to numerous film festivals internationally. All the Rage (Strand Releasing) which Tec wrote, directed and scored, was hailed by the L.A. Times as "one of the sharpest, sexiest and most amusing satires of gay life ever filmed." His play, Bodily Function has won numerous awards, among them the 2000 Albee Award and 2001 O'Neill (finalist); other plays include the downtown hit, Gratuitous Nudity and The Wreck Behind Us, based on the true story of the 1969 death of soap star Evelyn Beckett.

Most recently he co-produced Edward Zwick's film Defiance, released by Paramount Vantage.

 

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