Le Tour de Tami

We asked Director Kara Mulrooney to give us a glimpse into the creativity that went on behind the scenes during the filming of Le Tour de Tami.

Le Tour de Tami is a glittery, danceable short about tantalization and its consequences... The film was shot as part of a Bonus Checkpoint for the Riverwest 24 Hour Bike Race in Milwaukee, WI and features over 100 racers as actors.

My Gal Friday Films partner Susan Kerns and I are so grateful to "The 24" for the opportunity to make art with the Riverwest and cycling communities. The annual race is such an incredibly special community event, and it was an honor to be involved.

Le Tour is really, truly a process driven piece. We learned from race organizers that we'd have anywhere from zero to 50 racers every ten minutes, for a total of just 2 hours. We were also told firmly that racers would likely become uncooperative after 10 minutes - it is a race, for Heaven's sake:)

We were committed to making a narrative, rather than some chopped up video adventure, and decided that our location and main character would be key to that. TWO, the romantically themed bar designed and owned by Don Krause (who also owns the famous Art Bar next door), became a very important element. And Tami, our multi-lingual & multi-talented friend, agreed to help us out for the 2 hours.

The idea was to feature a saucy Frenchwoman who fancied cyclists, and to tell a story in three chapters: Chapter One, the lady performs to inspire their romantic interest, Chapter 2, they vie for her affection, and Chapter 3, she is overwhelmed by her zombie army of suitors. And really, our script was little more than that - we wanted the cyclists to contribute to the creative content in a major way.

Time was such a stringent constraint that I generally felt more like a pit crew boss than a director. Our Assistant Director and Coordinator were managing the participants on the outside (and getting chewed up by mosquitos, I guess, sheesh), so as soon as we finished with one group, they'd send in the next, and I would be like "OKAY! HERE'S THE SCENE! YOU'RE BRAGGING DIRECTLY INTO CAMERA ABOUT YOUR SKILLZ!, etc." Some racers became bashful, but for the most part, participants really got into the spirit of the piece. I wish we could have featured every single participant in the checkpoint, but in the final cut you only see about half of the racers who partook.

What I love about this "bike film" is that it's less a film about cyclists and the RW24 than it is a film by them. There's always high degree of collaboration in film, but in "Le Tour" the dialog, wardrobe, and choreography were all generated by the participants themselves.

Tate Bunker, the Director of Photography, was a huge creative contributor to the film - he made such pretty images under really kookoo conditions. Our Editor Adam Presti also did so much to create an interesting yet coherent film - there were definitely narrative gaps that he filled in through clever (and patient) editing. And our Composer Dania Luck, aka STACIAN, made the original song "Sunlight" for "Le Tour," and totally knocked it out of the park - hers was a funny and dire puzzle piece to create, and we're so grateful for her contribution.

Film Credits:

"Le Tour de Tami"
Directed by Kara Mulrooney

Written & Executive Produced by Susan Kerns & Kara Mulrooney, Gal Friday Films

Edited by Adam Presti

Director of Photography Tate Bunker

Composer STACIAN

Sound Mixer & Location Manager Rachael Horning

Assistant Director Sitora Takanaev

Production Coordinator Cara Ogburn

Wardrobe Ashley Coffey

Gaffer Lilly Czarnecki

Grip Li Wang