Drive-in cinema is a slice of Americana that has never got out of first gear in the UK.
Our experience of catching a film on the big screen from the front seats of the car is limited to pop culture references (who could forget that scene in Grease?) But we’ve rarely had much opportunity to try it out for ourselves.
This summer, the folks at Rooftop Film Club are doing their bit to change that.
In an open car park next to Alexandra Palace, with views of the sun setting on the rest of the city, there now stands a huge screen, ready to welcome dozens of film fan-motorists.
But what is it that’s persuaded people to jump in the car for this screening of Back To The Future?
Weaving between the parked cars and the rollerskating waiters carrying drinks, sweets and popcorn to wound-down windows, I set about trying to find an answer.
Zairah and Alastair have taken their date-night on the road. They think that drive-in cinema makes for a more romantic and, erm… intimate, experience….
The mood is very different over at Lee and Maria’s car. They’ve got a car-full of kids and, judging by the tray of sweets that’s just been skated to their door, they’re all going to be pretty hyperactive by the time Doc Brown shows up.
Not many people I spoke to have ever been to a drive-in before; a real sense of curiosity and excitement was building for the show as car stereos were tuned into the special FM station for film audio. Paul was looking forward to sampling something a bit different.
The man behind it all is Gerry Cottle Jr, who founded Rooftop Film Club, the group behind a whole range of new ‘film experiences’ springing up across London and the rest of the UK. Gerry says that there is something special about the drive-in experience that the UK have been missing out on. But, he reckons, once this audience have tried it once, they’ll have a lasting appetite for more.
Popcorn and projector 