christoph von toggenburg

BIKE FOR HELP is a documentary series based on the video diary shot by Christoph von Toggenburg, a 26 year old photographer and painter, who cycled 9300km raising funds for leprosy hospitals in India and Cambodia. In January 2002 Christoph set out from New Delhi travelling through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece and Italy, arriving home to the Swiss Alps in June 2002.

MATERIAL

62 hours of DV-Video footage, 10’000 photographs and hundreds of diary pages.
Bärli filmed his trip with a DV camera and developed an innovative shooting style doing interviews and statements to camera. He has an eye for the beautiful and unusual, which shines through in his narration and choice of images.

A HUMANITARIAN ADVENTURE

BIKE FOR HELP is much more than a remarkable inspiring adventure. It is an insight into how a young man tests his idealism and triumphs in the face of extreme physical and mental challenges.
Bike for Help makes an ideal subject for a documentary. Christoph is eloquent, idealistic and passionate about helping the less fortunate. He is determined to show by his own example that an individual can make the world a better place. This compassion makes him a compelling and endearing personality.

EDITING / PRODUCTION

At the moment we are looking for suitable TV programme slots and funds to finance the postproduction of the proposed documentary series. Ideally award winning (BBC, Channel 4) cameraman / editor Claudio von Planta (www.vonplanta.net) could work on the material. Some footage of the ‘Rough Cut’ can also be downloaded from his web-page. He has filmed crucial stages, provided technical support and edited the ‘rough-cut’. He knows the material ‘in and out’.

Text: Scott Cooper

Highlights

Selection of scenes (short description of visual material):
1. London: Preparations of the project – highlights and frustrations. The personal quest for a ‘better world’.
2. Cambodia: First encounters with leprosy. Christoph visits leprosy patients in the cities and the wildest jungle.
3. India: Journey from the Himalays to the tropical South to visit leprosy centres and patients. Moving encounters with lepers.
4. India – Pakistan: (Begin of bike adventure) Christoph is seen as a ‘peace-messenger’ and manages to pass through the crisis between the two countries.
5. Pakistan: He is made VIP by the government and crosses wild tribal areas of Beluchistan under protection of bodyguards and the tribes. He gets in close touch with the ‘original land’ of the Talibans.
6. Pakistan – Afganisthan: The war is close and the situation is tense. American warplanes fly above his head. Wild sandstorms, low temperatures and ‘stone-throwing’ refugees ‘attack’ the young cyclist. Personal encounters with the tribes, ancient places, cultures and Islam.
7. Iran: Thousands of kilometres through some of the most extreme deserts. Thirst, loneliness, robbers, wild animals and physical exhaustion challenge Christoph. Touching encounters with the locals and Islam.
8. Turkey: Snow- and rainfall sets in. The conditions are difficult and Christoph crosses to Turkey near the Iraq border. He is challenged to his mental and physical limits but he does not give up.
9. Europe: Christoph crosses Greece and Italy under beautiful conditions. Summer has arrived and he makes the ‘final kilometres’. He is celebrated when returning home to Switzerland.

“After having survived the crisis in Pakistan, the sand-storms in the desert, the robbers and the wolves, I am faced with the most difficult task: overcome my own mental exhaustion.
The past months have taught me to look forward and not backward. In difficult situations I must sometimes believe ‘blindly’ in my goal and the poor lepers who need my help.”
(Kayseri, Turkey, March 2002)

Bike for Help - A humanitarian adventure

40 min.

CD-Rom: 7 €

VHS: 10 €

If you like to order a copy please get in touch with me.

For filmmakers / tv interested in the material please contact Claudio von Planta (claudio@vonplanta.net) from Video One.