LEWISTON — Eight months after local audiences first glimpsed “The Peloton Project” — the transcontinental documentary about 40 cyclists’ treks from Calgary to Lewiston and their fights with cancer — the still-unfinished film is available to buy and watch at home.
Lewiston-Auburn filmmakers Ramsey Tripp and Laura Davis still hope to get their movie seen at festivals and find a company to get the film into theaters.
However, local demand for the film has been high, particularly at Lewiston’s Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing and its counterpart, Wellspring Calgary.
“We just kept having people request it,” said Tripp, the film’s director. “It was like, ‘Well, it’s not really finished.’ Then they’d say they’d just like to have a copy.”
So Tripp and Davis, the movie’s producer, settled on selling digital versions copies of the still-unfinished film — the same version screened in October during the annual Demspey Challenge.
The movie tells the story of the Peloton Project’s 2012 bicycle ride from Calgary to Lewiston, a distance of about 2,500 miles.
Every year, cyclists from the Cancervive Foundation of Alberta raise money and trek as a metaphor for the journey every person who is diagnosed with cancer faces.
Each rider cycles for someone specific who has had cancer. When possible, rider and partner reunite at the trek’s end.
In 2012, the 10-day ride’s destination was in Lewiston. It was enough to inspire Tripp and his company, Trade-mark R Productions, to join the 24-hour-day relay.
Tripp compiled a rough cut of “The Peloton Project” for the 2013 Lewiston Auburn Film Festival.
Tripp re-edited portions of the movie over the summer for the version that was screened at the Dempsey Challenge. More changes will be planned in the coming weeks.
Tripp and Davis are still working with actor Patrick Dempsey and his agency, United Talent Agency, to line up dates at festivals and a deal to broaden the film’s audience. Dempsey, who grew up in Turner and Buckfield, narrates the movie and serves as executive producer.
“We’ve sent the latest version out to California and Patrick’s people,” Tripp said.
Meanwhile, they’re selling the unfinished film on their website, thepelotonfilm.com.
People may buy the movie in digital form for $19.99.
For each purchase, Tripp and Davis will send a DVD copy of the film to either the Dempsey Center or Wellspring, where it will be given to a cancer patient.
dhartill@sunjournal.com
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