BicycleCinema.org
Night audience at an Efecto Pedal pedal-powered screening
Photo: Efecto Pedal (pantalla-inflable.blog) — via pantalla-inflable.blog

Efecto Cine / Efecto Pedal

Uruguay, Montevideo · Commercial hire

Active last verified 2026-09
Live-wire (ultracapacitor)
10 generator bikes + 12 audience docking stations (2014 launch configuration)Documented
  • Priority dispute
  • Licensed technology
  • Promotional figures labelled

No website linked — No official operator website was located in the research; the organization is documented through press coverage and Uruguayan government communiqués.

Efecto Pedal is Efecto Cine's touring pedal cinema in Uruguay: ten hub-motor bikes, twelve public docking stations, an ultracapacitor buffer. Launched in Montevideo on 4 December 2014 under licence from Electric Pedals of London, it has toured nationally since 2015 and screened at the Punta del Este film festival in 2026.

Key facts

  • Fleet

    10 generator bikes + 12 audience docking stations1,2

    Documented

  • Generation voltage

    12–15 V DC3

    Operator-stated

  • Buffer

    Ultracapacitor bank — explicitly no batteries4,5

    Documented

  • Minimum system power

    ≥1,300 W (operator-stated)2,6

    Operator-stated

  • Priority dispute

    Predated by Market Chile's Santiago event, one month earlier5

    Documented

“Todo esto genera un voltaje inofensivo de entre 12 y 15 volts, por el que no se corre peligro. Nuestro equipo lo transforma a 220 y con eso se alimenta a todos los equipos.”

All of this generates a harmless voltage of between 12 and 15 volts, so there is no danger. Our equipment transforms it to 220, and with that all the equipment is powered.

Diego Parodi, Efecto Cine director, interview with El País (Montevideo)3

The ten 26-inch bicycles carry a disc motor on the rear wheel and a rectifier, and run in series with free docking stations where the audience's own bikes generate alongside them; the direct current is accumulated in an ultracapacitor bank, not batteries, and transformed to mains voltage for the projector, the sound and the blower that inflates the Airscreen. An LED voltmeter in view of the audience warns when harder pedalling is needed. National tours have run since 2015; a Cine a Pedal function at the 18th Punta del Este film festival in 2026 is the latest activity documented.

Specifications

What do these labels mean?

FieldValueConfidenceSources
Fleet configuration10 bikes + 12 docking stationsA '10+10' configuration appears only in vendor and secondary coverage; primary 2014 launch sources give 12 free docking stations.Documented1,2
Generation voltage12–15 V DCDirector Diego Parodi, El País interview.Operator-stated3
Output voltage220 V ACDocumented3
BufferUltracapacitor bank (no batteries)The Chilean sister deployment stated explicitly: 'El sistema no utiliza baterías.'Documented4,5
Minimum system power1,300 W (whole show: projection + sound + screen inflation)Single-source, promoter-stated requirement; not a metered value.Operator-stated2,6
Screen size7.5 × 6 m (Airscreen, current rig)Documented7
Screen inflation loadIncluded in the pedal-powered load2015 and 2023 press both confirm pedalling also powers the blower; the system is not a sealed or pre-inflated screen.Documented3,8
Projector typeLaser HD projectorDocumented7
Projector power drawnot disclosedNo wattage figure for the projector was located in any source.Not disclosed7
Real-time monitoringLED voltmeterDocumented2,6
'First world tour' claimprimera gira mundial de cine a pedalResearch correction:Market Chile ran a licensed pedal-cinema event in Santiago on 6–8 November 2014, one month before Efecto Pedal's 4 December 2014 Montevideo launch; neither claim is a verified world-first.Promotional / press-reported — not verified3,5
Advertised audience capacityup to 1,500 spectatorsResearch correction:No independent attendance count was located to confirm venue-filling numbers at this scale; treat as an unverified marketing capacity claim.Promotional / press-reported — not verified9

History

Efecto Pedal launched on 4 December 2014 on the esplanade of the Intendencia de Montevideo; the Uruguayan presidency's communiqué described a mixed system of ten Efecto Pedal bicycles connected in series with "12 estaciones libres" for the audience's own bicycles 1. Electric Pedals of London, which licensed the technology, reported three of its large bicycle cinemas touring South America with Efecto Cine as partner 4,10. Cinemateca Uruguaya's Cine a Pedal festival in Montevideo (2013–2019) is presumed to have run on this rig; the format was exported to Bogotá in August 2018 and franchised to Nigrán, Galicia, from 2022 11,12. The 2018 Verano a Pedal tour covered all 19 departments with 24 screenings on 12 bikes plus a hand-crank for accessibility, and the September–December 2025 En 3 Actos tour delivered 50 screenings, ten of them Cine a Pedal events 13,9. A 2023 Intendencia de Florida communiqué repeats that audience pedalling generates all the electricity for the show, including inflating the screen 8. A Cine a Pedal function at the 18th Punta del Este film festival is documented in 2026 14.

Line diagram of the Efecto Pedal chain from bicycles through ultracapacitors to projector, sound and the screen blower
Bikes + docks → 12–15 V DC → ultracapacitors → 220 V → laser projector + sound + screen blower1,2,3,4,5,9,14 Image: BicycleCinema.org, drawn from the research corpus
Cyclists pedalling during an Efecto Pedal outdoor event
Photo: Efecto Pedal (pantalla-inflable.blog) — via pantalla-inflable.blog

Corrections and confidence notes

Efecto Cine's billing of a "primera gira mundial de cine a pedal", reported by El País in 2015, postdates by one month Market Chile's licensed Electric Pedals event at Quinta Normal, Santiago, on 6–8 November 2014; neither claim has been verified 3,5. Some secondary accounts describe a "central battery"; the buffer is documented as an ultracapacitor bank, and the Chilean sister deployment stated that its system uses no batteries 4,5.

Dated panel setting the Santiago and Montevideo 2014 events side by side and labelling the first-world-tour claim as promotional
Priority card: Market Chile, Santiago, 6–8 November 2014 vs Montevideo launch 4 December 2014 — both licensed from Electric Pedals1,2,3,4,5,9,14 Image: BicycleCinema.org, drawn from the research corpus
Efecto Pedal pedal-powered cinema event, Uruguay
Photo: Efecto Pedal (pantalla-inflable.blog) — via pantalla-inflable.blog

Descends from:Electric Pedals

Sources

  1. [1]Presidencia de la República Uruguay — Efecto Pedal launch (2014)www.gub.uy
  2. [2]CooltivArte — Efecto Pedal launch communiqué, Dec 2014cooltivarte.com
  3. [3]El País (UY) — primera gira mundial de cine a pedal (2015)www.elpais.com.uy
  4. [4]La Voz (AR) — Efecto Pedal branded content (2018)www.lavoz.com.ar
  5. [5]El Mostrador (CL) — Market Chile event (2014)www.elmostrador.cl
  6. [6]AIRSCREEN blog — Ecocine: Efecto Cinepantalla-inflable.blog
  7. [7]La Brújula Diario (Durazno, 2025)labrujuladiario.com
  8. [8]Intendencia de Florida (gub.uy) — Cine a pedal en Plaza Conde (2023)www.gub.uy
  9. [9]Tacuarembó 2030 — Cine a Pedal (2025)www.tacuarembo2030.com
  10. [10]adaptnetwork.com — Cinema goers can now power their own screening (interview with Colin Tonks, 2017)www.adaptnetwork.com
  11. [11]ICAU — 6º Cine a Pedal, 25/02/2019icau.mec.gub.uy
  12. [12]EasyOrganic — interview with Ana Gontad, 06/06/2024easyorganic.es
  13. [13]Semanario La Prensa (UY, 2018)semanariolaprensa.com
  14. [14]maldonadonoticias.com — 18° Festival de Cine de Punta del Estemaldonadonoticias.com

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