News Feature

I think for motorcyclists, the films of Cine Meccanica trigger something in our collective unconscious. We're drawn to the rebel, the wanderer, the anti-hero raging against society and himself. Fraught with turmoil, they race blindly, trying to outrun their pasts. No matter how many times we watch films like Vanishing Point, or Girl On A Motorcycle, we are always hoping they'll find themselves before it's too late. Before that inevitable ball of flames envelops them in the final scene.

We had some time to catch up with Cine Meccanica moto maven Corinna Mantlo over the weekend regarding the return of her classic film presentation series later this week, and also got some insight into several exciting new projects she has in the works for NYC. Check out our interview with Corinna and mark this coming Sunday on your calendars for the Cine Meccanica’s 2021 debut at Abe's Pagoda Bar in Bushwick.

1) So, Cine Meccanica, now over a decade old, is coming back again this week after a brief stint online during the height of COVID last year. Firstly, tell us a bit about the original concept and what prompted you to start the classic moto film-based venture?

I'd been running a classic cult film series for several years already in the East Village called Ave "B" Movies. Basically, your first-year film theory nerd fest. This is all before Netflix, so running a movie night meant finding the few bars that had big screen TVs or a projector and renting DVDs at Kim's Video & Music, or tracking down copies with bootleggers online.

The bootlegger scene was wild, and you got your ear talked off about their full catalogue of obscure kung fu titles every time you called their land line. Of course, they also carried a ton of super sleazy ‘70s biker flicks that I’d never heard of before. Very quickly, any profit I made hosting events, went back into sending money orders to PO boxes across the U.S. for what quickly became an extensive vehicular film collection, and Cine Meccanica was born!

I littered the East Village with flyers, took out personal ads in the Village Voice, and posted on craigslist in the cars and bikes for sale section. Even Kim's Video was impressed … until they closed, (they) kept a stack of flyers on the counter, and created a dedicated Cine Meccanica curated shelf.

It was a hit! The crowd was weird, diverse, and die hard. Many used it as an excuse to show off their new (old) rides, and finding venues to accommodate the packed house, and a pop-up car/bike show out front became a new challenge.

I often refer to Cine Meccanica as the ‘infamous’ movie night. 'Christine' seeking her 'forever love' in the personals, changing venue addresses you had to find a flyer to locate, and streets blocked with lowriders on a Tuesday night is pretty much why. It was the talk of the underground town.

2) When and where did your interest in film start?

Birth? Probably. My brother is 14 years older … he was living at home and going to film school while I was growing up, and he used the living room to stage and film stop motion projects. My father, a comic writer and film nut, traded signed comics for bootleg VHS and meticulously catalogued the collection. Both my parents took me to matinee showings of classics most weekends, and to watch vintage TV in porno style private viewing booths at the Museum of Television and Radio.

I devoured important novels and had read most of the HS curriculum before I got there. The only book reports I can remember doing prior to HS are a film theory autobiography by Alfred Hitchcock, a book on the films of Leni Riefenstahl (that was problematic, ha!), and a bio of Joseph Merrick ... because of The Elephant Man (1980), naturally.

I cut class, chain smoking Lucky Strikes, and scribbled notes by projector light at all the indie movie theatres. I PA'd on film sets and worked as a costume designer. As a fashion student in London, I designed a collection coupled with a thesis on Modernism VS Postmodernism as related to identifying Replicants in the film Bladerunner. Using basic attributes of both art movements, it proved Harrison Ford himself to be a replicant. At the time, it was a theory not yet confirmed by Ridley Scott. I got high grades on the collection, and an incomplete on the paper due to ‘relevance to fashion and the project’ ... um … have you seen the film?! I dropped out shortly after and returned to the States to make films.

3) What was the very first film you put on show for Cine Meccanica and, over the years, what would you say your favorite is in the moto genre? What makes it special for you? And what do you see as the main draw for motorcycle and car themed movies overall?

The first film ever, screened in the basement of an East Village dive, was The Car (1977) -- I mean, come on … a 1971 George Barris custom Lincoln Continental Mark III, as a mysterious, self-driving car on a murderous rampage! It was panned by critics. Church of Satan leader Anton Levay loaned his name as technical advisor, and the theme song is an adaptation of the Dies Irae. What's not to love?

There's always a new favorite, but the classics, especially The Wild One is why I got into bikes, and why I ride British to this day.

I think for motorcyclists, the films of Cine Meccanica trigger something in our collective unconscious. We're drawn to the rebel, the wanderer, the anti-hero raging against society and himself. Fraught with turmoil, they race blindly, trying to outrun their pasts. No matter how many times we watch films like Vanishing Point, or Girl On A Motorcycle, we are always hoping they'll find themselves before it's too late. Before that inevitable ball of flames envelops them in the final scene.

Cine Meccanica kickstarts the 2021 season at Abe's Pagoda Bar in Brooklyn with the 1975 classic Race with the Devil — 20th Century Fox

Well, necessity is the mother of invention, right? And here we are, a year deep in COVID-19, and so we adapt. The goal for the coming months is to continue to bring people together and support amazing but struggling local venues and their staff, while not just complying with, but embracing safety restrictions.

4) You were instrumental in the creation of the Motorcycle Film Festival, and more recently, you became what amounts to the archivist for The Vintagent website, celebrating moto films. What have these opportunities allowed you to do so far and what would you like to see your current Vintagent role lead to?

The core idea of, and what made The MFF profoundly important as a part of the rebirth of motorcycle culture we found ourselves in at the time, was that one little word. THE. A motorcycle film festival isn't a groundbreaking idea, but it hadn't been done before. Not as a multi-day, multi-venue, grind house style, judged, international film festival. We created a space for films to find a home and inspired new ones to be made. The connection viewers felt in that dark theatre was what I’d already learned at Cine Meccanica about that collective subconscious, and it was electric! It was anything but regional in its attempt and success at bringing the world of motorcyclists together. The MFF set a very high bar, and though many regional MFFs have popped up since, The MFF will always be in a class of its own, even in the short life it led.

Paul d'Orleans of The Vintagent, was the MFF host and spirit animal from day one. He is a genius at using motorcycles as a focus point, but drawing back just a bit to lead you to deeper discussions of art, politics, and culture every time.

I'm thrilled to continue to work with Paul in my roll as the Curator of Film for The Vintagent, where I’m building the largest archive of motorcycle films in the world. Film connects riders to non-riders and housed here, on a worldwide stage, the possibilities are limitless.

5) Getting back to Cine Meccanica, this coming Sunday you’ll be kickstarting a new season at Abe’s Pagoda Bar in Bushwick as an in-person event (12 VIPs) and a live-streamed event on Facebook. Tell us what movies you’ll be showing, how the two aspects will work and what sort of cost there is to viewers.

Well, necessity is the mother of invention, right? And here we are, a year deep in COVID-19, and so we adapt. The goal for the coming months is to continue to bring people together and support amazing but struggling local venues and their staff, while not just complying with, but embracing safety restrictions.

And so, this season kicks off with an action, horror, car chase hybrid that will appeal to everyone sick of being cooped up inside, and wishing they were out adventuring. But be careful what you wish for … being homebound a little longer might not be the worst thing after all...

Race With The Devil (1975) - Peter Fonda and Warren Oates, star as a couple of dirt-track racers who pack up their bikes and their wives and set out on an RV vacation. Looking to get away from it all, they pass up cookie cutter camp sites in lieu of a secluded spot deep in the woods. Little do they know when they drop the landing gear however, that this grotto has already been booked by ... a Satanic cult for a ritual of human sacrifice. They soon find out that "If you're going to race with the devil, you've got to be fast as Hell!".

CINE MECCANICA SUNDAY SCREENINGS

Twelve VIP tickets ($12 each) will go on sale Tuesday morning on Instagram @cinemeccanica for a screening that coming Sunday, 7 PM at Abe's Pagoda Bar in Brooklyn. Tickets will include a commemorative button, film bingo card (for prizes), and a swag bag from our sponsors. The film will be followed by @Prison.Rodeo spinning '70s outlaw country vinyl at 9 PM. So, stick around. Tickets are first come, first serve. Follow @cinemeccanica for updates.

MISSED OUT ON TICKETS? NOT IN NYC? NO PROBLEM!

Cine Meccanica films and the Prison Rodeo DJ set will be live-streamed on Facebook (at facebook.com/CineMeccanica) worldwide for FREE. You can even buy a virtual bingo card and play along for prizes from home. All event proceeds go to support the Abe's Pagoda Bar staff, and so in addition to VIP tickets, there will be a tip jar link on the live-stream. Pour yourself a drink, pop some popcorn, and be sure to tip your virtual bartender!

6) You mentioned you’ll be doing a few of these to help support some of the ailing watering holes in NYC … what other venues will we see? How long do you anticipate the sequence of shows will run?

As with everything COVID, we're gonna just play it by ear. If all goes well, we'll do at least a few a month at Abe's and add in more around the city. With such a small in-person capacity, this will create the availability of more VIP tickets, and raise support for more struggling venues. As the COVID restrictions lift, the event will evolve.

7) Will we also possibly see a revival of the MFF in the future?

I'd say there's a good possibility of that in the near future ... though you can be sure it will be anything but simply a 'revival' of an old idea.

Cine Meccanica's Corinna Mantlo, a professional daredevil with the American Motor Drome Co. Wall Of Death — Ryan Bettencourt, Rahoul Ghose, Jonathan Pacheco

The diversity of Cine Meccanica itself was a founding goal of the project. As a born and raised New Yorker, living surrounded by people of all walks of life, I wanted it to be a place where old time 1%ers, young hipsters, men, women, gay, straight, in short ... ALL the faces of motorcycling felt comfortable. While at bike events, these groups might keep to themselves. At movie night, they were all ONE in the dark, and quickly accepted each other safely in a warm, cozy bar.

8) In terms of films, how do you make your selections? You’ve been a progressive force in highlighting community needs, whether you’re addressing the loss of local businesses and traditional trade skills or fronting the women’s motorcycle movement. Is it sometimes harder to choose a movie, with current social norms reflecting a heightened sensibility towards issues like gender and racial representation in ‘60s and ‘70s classic film titles?

Cine Meccanica has been an interesting challenge as a curator and host, as a substantial number of films are problematic for their depiction of Nazi imagery, and sexual assault. For perspective, there are actually only a dozen or so of these exploitation films, all made between 1967 and 1971, following the success of Roger Corman's Wild Angels (1966), which coined the term of 'Biker Flick'. Made for the late night, drive-in crowd, these ‘Biker Flicks’ relied on salacious poster art, which until recently, were all anyone too young and square to have seen them in the theatre knew of them. It fueled their cult status.

The fact that they make up only a small subset of the motorcycle movie genre, does not justify their content, and I do not condone it personally. At Cine Meccanica, since day one, ‘Biker Flicks’ have always been liberally scattered into the line up, to avoid overload, and I consciously bring up the subject with the diverse crowd of attendees as the film start to get heavy. Because these films have historical context, omitting them would white-wash history and close the door to discussion of them. And, outside of the awkward scenes, they are great, campy fun, with killer surf soundtracks.

Today, that catalogue of films, so rare that it led to the creation of Cine Meccanica, is available to stream on Netflix and Amazon. Why would these giants of mainstream watch sites add such sleazy titles to their roster in a time of Woke-ness? Easy, the rights were cheap to buy. So, the imagery is out there, and now the films are too, without context or diverse discussion.

The diversity of Cine Meccanica itself was a founding goal of the project. As a born and raised New Yorker, living surrounded by people of all walks of life, I wanted it to be a place where old-time 1%ers, young hipsters, men, women, gay, straight, in short ... ALL the faces of motorcycling, felt comfortable. While at bike events, these groups might keep to themselves. At movie night, they were all ONE in the dark, and quickly accepted each other safely in a warm, cozy bar.

I don't often lean on my gender status, but I do think that being a non-threatening, female, film nerd with a clear agenda of unity, allowed me to bring people together in a way that perhaps a cool dude might not have been able to. I often joke that I’ve been ‘confusing bikers since 2010’, with this angle of community that I bring to all my projects.

9) You have also been a proponent of saving and supporting historic drive-in movie venues in NYC. And in fact, you have a new concept set to launch, dubbed Spaghetti & A Western, which inspires panoramic visions of Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Tell us all the details … the concept, when and where the first event will be held, and what films and food will be showcased.

It's true, and you heard it here first! Cine Meccanica is proud to present an all-new film series with less horse power and more pasta! Spaghetti & A Western aims to ramble through town this April for select outdoor, socially distanced dinner screenings of classic Italian Westerns under the stars, before moseying west on a cross country tour. So, saddle up and give @spaghetti.and.a.western a follow for updates!

10) Finally, in a very digital age, what do you think films of the past have to offer the current culture?

Context and substance.

Now screen that film as a collective audience experience, allowing viewers to experience the film from all angles, and through the eyes of those sitting next to them, and everyone walks away with a deeper understanding and a lasting connection to the film and each other.

To quote a line from my own documentary on the disappearing of the Fulton Fish Market, that perfectly sums up my love affair with the consumption of film in a live audience context ... "It's ... it's the beautiful, I get poetic, I gotta stop".

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, and we look forward to sating our on-screen anti-hero complex over the coming months.

A B O U T  C O R I N N A  M A N T L O

In addition to serving as Curator of Film at The Vintagent and an advisor / contributor here at NYC Motorcyclist, Corinna is the owner and lead designer at custom seat maker Via Meccanica, and the founder of both Cine Meccanica and the Motorcycle Film Festival.

The NYC-born moto enthusiast, who founded The Miss-Fires MC/CC women's moto club, has contributed to several books, including The Chopper: The Real Story (gestalten, 2014) by Paul d’Orleans.

And, in her spare time, Corinna travels as a professional daredevil with the American Motor Drome Co. Wall Of Death.

For more information on Cine Meccanica and what's in the works for 2021, visit them online at cinemeccanica.wordpress.com or on social media: