VIDEO: ‘Cycle’ (2014) – by Amir Porat & Mor Israeli
‘Cycle’ is a little ‘motion’ gem that makes us imagine that favourite object that drives our passion for cycling… Directed by Amir Porat & Mor Israeli, this short film was created for the Israeli contest Maratoon (2013) in which participants were given 5 days to create a one minute animated film on the theme of bicycle. It won the 2nd prize in the competition.
Working on this challenging video experiment, Porat & Israeli mentioned : ”We’ve managed to stay cool and look at the project while it developed, all the time not knowing where exactly its heading but believing that it’s the only way for this type of short to become what it is. By choosing to work on repetitive cycles we were able to produce an incredibly high production value for a project with very short time schedule.’‘

The beautiful, minimal design, Porat’s captivating music along with the smooth transition of enigmatic close-ups to wider-shots enhance the film’s narrative which is skillfully built using stopframe animation .
‘Cycle’ was an official selection in several festivals and won awards including the 3rd place award at the International Cycling Film Festival, the 5th place at VELOBerlin Film Award 2014 as well as the best music video award at Bike Shorts Roanoke 2015. It also took part in BCN SPORTS Film 2014, the SiciliAmbiente Film Festival 2014 and Boston Cyclist Union’s Green Pedal Film Festival 2014.
Porat & Israeli produced another animation together – entitled ‘Bag For Life’ – as part of a stop-motion class while they were both studying at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Israel. The film’s about a canvas bag condemning the evil lives plastic and paper bags lead. Prophetic…
‘Cycle’ was screened at Screen Social:RIDE.