Streetfilms, a sustainable-transportation advocacy group that started in New York in 2004, has recently produced several very cool films about Oakland and Berkeley folks committed to biking in the Bay.

The group, tackles "issues like bus rapid transit, parking policy, police enforcement and the spatial inequity of the way our streets are divided," according to the group's website. "Many films have had a dramatic effect on the public conscious and policies."

Local filmmaker Charlotte Buchen most recently completed a piece on Oakland resident Antonio Mendoza:

"Antonio Mendoza has been living in Oakland and sending money home to Mexico for 13 years, but these are especially hard times. For him, riding his bike is a way to relieve stress, get around, and stay fit at the same time. Bicycles are also one way he can stay connected to his son in Mexico: They haven’t seen each other in over a decade, but whenever he can, Antonio fixes up a bike and sends it home so that his son can have something that his father’s hands have touched and loved."

Earlier in May, Buchen featured Sal Bednarz, who "believes in creating community, so when he opened a new café in his beloved neighborhood in Oakland, he gave it bike-friendly features. But Sal’s not trying to make a statement – he just thinks bike parking should come standard."

The first piece in the series centered on Terri Saul of Berkeley. She "paints impossible childhood fantasies on canvas. Inspired by her Choctaw-Chickasaw roots as well as memories of childhood bike rides through the outer edges of Los Angeles, many of Terri’s paintings combine classic Tour de France imagery with the regalia of Native American dancers. And now, her daughter Lydia, too, is taking to the magic and independence of the bicycle."

Oakland first appeared on Streetfilms' radar in 2009 when John Hamilton profiled scraper bikes.

If more local street portraits come out, you can find them here. Streetfilms is a project of Streetsblog, which has an awesome Bay Area edition here.