Ride With Pride

Parampar Singh Rajput is the founder of the Sikh Motorcycle Club in Australia. For him and his fellow riders, the turban is not a barrier to the open road. It's the whole point. Riding without a helmet, in accordance with helmet exemptions that recognize the turban as a religious article of faith, Parampar describes the experience of riding as pure freedom: a state where the turban marks him as recognizable, trustworthy, and proud, a Sikh who can be spotted among a million people. The film captures him at home, with his family, and on the highway, exploring what this particular form of freedom means.

The legal dimension of the story is real. The right of Sikhs in Australia to ride without helmets has been contested and won, and Parampar has been part of that fight. But the film isn't primarily a political document. It's a portrait of a man who has found in motorcycling a practice that is continuous with his faith: the sensation of being fully present in the world, responsible for his own life, and visible as exactly who he is. Ride with Pride is a film that takes that experience seriously and lets it be what it is.