About the film
MOTORCYCLE MAN is a short documentary about a man who has pursued a single passion in life: motorcycle racing. Dave Roper has raced every year since 1972, competing on exotic vintage bikes at racetracks around the world and winning a reputation as a folk hero of the sport.
But Roper is hardly an adrenaline junkie. He takes a philosophical approach to racing, viewing it as a test of mental and physical abilities. As he enters his twilight years, Roper reflects on the unconventional path he has followed in life, the dangers he has faced and the choices he has made.
MOTORCYCLE MAN follows Roper from a workshop in Brooklyn to his home on Long Island to a racetrack in Canada. Along the way he encounters autograph-seeking admirers, old friends and fellow racers eager to test their skills on the track. It also delves into Roper's past, including his historic victory at the Isle of Man TT in 1984, when he became the first American to win the notoriously dangerous race on an island in the Irish Sea.
MOTORCYCLE MAN celebrates the speed, sweat and thrill of motorcycle racing, while offering a meditation on craft, obsession and what it takes to pursue your dreams.
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the filmmakers
Daniel Lovering is a writer, photographer and award-winning documentary filmmaker based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His first feature-length documentary, “Through the Place,” won the Best Architecture Film award at the 2016 New Urbanism Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Festival Director’s Award at the Queen City Film Festival in Cumberland, Maryland. An experienced journalist, Daniel has reported from more than a dozen countries. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Economist and Foreign Policy, among other publications. Daniel worked for eight years as a staff writer for The Associated Press in Asia and the United States, reporting on subjects ranging from business and politics to war and natural disasters. He began his career in film and television production, working as an intern on the children’s television series “Bill Nye, the Science Guy.”
Chi-Ho Lee is a film and television editor with over 15 years of experience in broadcast television, fictional and documentary feature films, as well as museum films. His broadcast work has aired on PBS, BBC, Smithsonian Channel, TV One, MTV, Animal Planet and NESN. Chi-Ho has also edited award-winning documentaries that have screened at film festivals throughout the country and abroad. In addition to his broadcast and feature work, Chi-Ho has edited numerous museum films for the Sant Ocean Hall at The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, The National WWII Museum, The Peabody Essex Museum, and New England Aquarium. He has also edited a collection of video guitar lessons for the legendary musician James Taylor.
Clifford Anderson is an award-winning composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His music has been featured in film, games, and virtual reality, and honored by ASCAP and the Academy of Scoring Arts. Cliff helped design and run Berklee College of Music’s groundbreaking online music education program; founded the Boston chapter of the Ravel Study Group; served on the submissions screening committee for the Boston International Film Festival; and served as an industry judge in Emerson College’s student media awards for the category "Outstanding Sound Design For Screen." He has appeared on television and in print discussing the filmmaking process, and is a frequent presenter on composing for visual media.
