Dan Jones All For One

Dan Jones All For One

Cast: Phil Liggett, Esteban Chaves, Matthew Hayman
Directors: Marcus Cobbledick, Dan Jones
Genre: Documentary, Biography, Sport
Running Time: 100 minutes

Synopsis: All For One follows the first five years of the GreenEDGE cycling journey. United by their renegade spirit and a determination to win against substantial odds, these riders take on the international circuit. The film offers unique insights into the first five years of their journey, bearing witness to the ethos of the team as embodied by all – from the strongest to most embattled members. Out of a culture that embraces a deeply human approach to sport, unlikely champions are born, and seemingly improbable team and personal goals are achieved.

All For One
Release Date: August 17th, 2017

Dan Jones- Director's Letter

I've worked most of my life in cycling, over 12 years to be exact. I became involved in the sport by happenstance, as an eager film student given the opportunity to make a feature length film on the 2005 Tour de France. After spending time on the ground at the tour I could see why the sport was so popular. It's a travelling circus; action, drama, history and intrigue. I was hooked, but I wanted to know more. I wanted to find out how the inner sanctum of a team worked. How did chemistry inside a team develop? What were the athletes personal stories? How did a cycling team function behind the scenes? Were riders more than just a pair of sunglasses and a helmet?

In 2010 Australian businessman and entrepreneur Gerry Ryan was inspired to start his own team. The first Australian Cycling team at a World Tour level. I knew Gerry well. This could be my chance to answer the burning questions I had. My chance to share the stories of these people with the world.

I was first approached by Gerry Ryan back in 2011 to document the journey of GreenEDGE and to engage fans during their first season. Gerry's brief for me was pretty short. "Don't forget Dan we are in the entertainment industry, our section is sport, and our category is cycling. We have to entertain people." I was beyond excited to have this opportunity. To be the first full time videographer to document the entire journey of a team's season. To create content that was accessible and enjoyable not just for the cycling die hard but for the everyday joe, the cycling curious, the sports enthusiasts.

The team's formation was already different to most 'traditional' approaches. Firstly, they didn't just select riders because of their results. They picked riders on their personalities and how they felt they could integrate into their culture, which was based on hard work, but also enjoying themselves off the bike. The traditional cycling culture frowned upon entertainment and enjoyment off the bike. With military structure where the hierarchy set the agenda the role of professional cyclist was a very serious one. For -GreenEDGE', fun was a very serious business.

The team quickly developed a reputation as being the 'fun' ones in the pro peloton, with viral lip syncing music videos during a grand tour, to cooking tutorials and 'my piece of the world' clips highlighting riders home towns and lives off the bike. Before we knew it, we had the number one cycling channel on Youtube and the entertainment plan established by Gerry was starting to work.

After the team's first season and the success and popularity of the online video content the prospect of a feature length documentary was obvious to me. I knew we had the start of something very special. Over the next few years I gained unprecedented access, from team meetings to in-car tactics. I watched the team develop, witnessing the highs and lows they endured on and off the bike. GreenEDGE had characters at every turn from riders to sports directors, and even soigneurs. After a breakthrough performance at the 2015 Tour of Spain by Esteban Chaves, who's own personal story of tragedy and triumph had always captivated me, I knew the time was right to put my plan to action.

I wanted to collaborate with a production company with a great reputation of distribution and production of quality documentaries. I needed a team who were also independent from our GreenEDGE bubble. Impartial to bias and open to telling a true and real story. After meeting with Madman Productions, in particular director Marcus Cobbledick and producer Nick Batzias, I knew we were on the same page in what we wanted to create with what would later become All For One.

The overall goal was simple, to take audiences on the full five-year journey that would surely be a rollercoaster ride peppered with highs, lows and laughs. This isn't a film about cycling only, we wanted to share the human story. We want the audience to feel the emotional connection to these characters and to truly understand the commitment and sacrifice they make to realise their dreams.

"Before we are riders, we are humans, and this team is really human" - Esteban Chaves

Marcus Cobbledick- Director's Letter

Like many sport-loving Australians I was inspired and captivated by Cadel Evans 2011 Tour de France win. It came at a time when the sport was growing rapidly and large numbers of recreational cyclists were taking to the roads. Cycling-friendly cafes, bike-stores and amateur cycling events were inundated with new and enthusiastic riders like myself, and as a result professional road racing was gaining a wider following. It was the perfect time for Businessman Gerry Ryan to launch GreenEDGE, Australia's first Pro-Tour cycling team and announce that they would be racing in the 2012 Tour de France. For many who had an affinity with the sport, it was a dream come true. We finally had a national team we could connect to, a reason to stay up late watching SBS into the early hours.

In November 2015, almost five years after GreenEDGE were launched, the team approached Madman Production Company to collaborate on a film that would tell their story. Team members (including my Co-Director Dan Jones) had seen my debut feature Fairless and appreciated the humanity I'd found in this legendary elite sportsman. Myself and Producer Nick Batzias were already familiar with the key characters in the team, the events that has shaped their journey and the potential the material had as the basis for a feature-length documentary. With over 4000 hours of existing footage we knew there were many possibilities, but we also knew that we didn't want to make a GreenEDGE promotional piece. Like any good story we wanted to share the challenges, controversies and pitfalls that that the team encountered of the first five years.

In 2016, I attended pre-season training camp in South Africa and the Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain) to conduct interviews. It was on these two trips I witnessed first-hand how impressive the culture and work ethic was at GreenEDGE. It was inspiring to see the commitment and dedication staff and riders shared, they worked independently when required but supporting one-other like a family striving to achieve a common goal. It was here that we realised we needed to capture the team's unique spirit. The experience was personally enlightening and I was encouraged to focus importance on the value on collaboration and teamwork.

We conducted over fifty interviews for this film, but the most memorable for me was with Jairo Chaves and Carolina Rubio the parents of Colombian rider Esteban Chaves. Despite the language barrier and dependence on a translator it was an incredibly heart-felt and important interview. Jairo and Carolina shared many personal insights; the suffering they'd experienced after he sustained such terrible injury and their fears for his future. Their gratitude towards GreenEdge for gifting Esteban a second chance and their pride in their son's achievements was moving and inspiring. That interview revealed the potential to create more than just a behind-the-scenes film about a cycling team but a deeper human story with personal insights and universal themes.

Throughout the long process of making this film, the subjects of our story have been our inspiration to strive further and to keep persisting. Our crew were consistently inspired by the commitment and dedication shown by our subjects for their training, families and to each other.

'If you surround yourself with people who share the same passion and vision you will be successful" - Gerry Ryan, Owner of GreenEDGE.

All For One
Release Date: August 17th, 2017