Back to the future with drive-in events

In Toronto, you no longer have to step out of the safety of your car to enjoy music concerts, exhibitions and movies

At a time of social distancing mandated by Covid19, how can people still gather in one place, but stay apart from each other? In a throwback to the 1950s and ’60s, drive-in venues are making a comeback, with Toronto leading the way in showing the range of activities they can be used for.

As Toronto locked down earlier this year, Charles Khabouth, labelled the city’s nightclub king, had to scramble to salvage his business. In a little over two months, his company INK Entertainment, set up Cityview, a downtown drive-in venue located on the shore of Lake Ontario. It opened in July with a live, drive-in music concert. In an interview, Khabouth said,

“We are known very much as a creative company that’s constantly ahead of the curve.”

Several concerts at Cityview scheduled in August are already sold out. The venue is also hosting free movie screenings as part of Driveinto, an initiative of the city of Toronto to offer drive-in entertainment experiences this year. Cityview has also hosted the launch of a real estate project, and is booked for cultural events, a talk show and even a wedding, where the bride and groom will get married on the stage as guests watch from their cars.

Toronto is also currently home to Immersive van Gogh, the world’s first drive-in digital art exhibit. Show One Productions and Starvox Entertainment had teamed up to stage the multimedia exhibit designed by Italian film producer Massimiliano Siccardi in Paris last year. The Toronto edition was scheduled to open in May this year, and when the pandemic hit, work was already on to convert a giant industrial space into a gallery that would enable viewers to “be immersed in 600,000 cubic feet of stunning projection animating the master’s oeuvre”, as the show is billed.

As delays and possible closure of the exhibit loomed, Corey Ross, the founder and President of Starvox, had an idea. “It struck me that if I could drive up this ramp every day to inspect the construction, maybe that’s how the public could come in in their cars and see the show,” he said. The organisers quickly built another gallery for a drive-in show, titled Gogh By Car. “The sunflowers are swaying in the wind, the clouds are floating by…the idea that Massimiliano started with is that this is a flashback — kind of your life flashing before your eyes — of the moments before van Gogh died,” Ross said. The drive-in exhibit is open until early September, while the walk-through show will continue until end-september.

Other drive-in events in Toronto include sports broadcasts as part of Driveinto and a drive-in safari through the Toronto Zoo.

Movies, the original drive-in entertainment, are back, of course. The city played host to the Lavazza International Film Festival in July, curated by the organisers of the annual Italian Contemporary Film Festival. The ICFF, usually held in June, had to be pushed back to November this year, and the organisers, who wanted to fill the gap with another festival, chose the drive-in format. “Going online is a very easy solution in the sense that it does not actually tackle the main issue, which is, let’s get out, let’s gather again even though in a safe manner. And we strongly believe that seeing cinema on a big screen is a completely different experience vis-a-vis your TV at home or maybe your computer,” said Carlo Coen, Director of Programming at ICFF. All twelve films screened at the festival, including the 2019 Hindi film Bala, sold out. “We reached the 185-car limit very easily,” Coen said. The Toronto International Film Festival, which will run September 10-20, will also feature a drivein component this year. Today’s drive-in venues, however, are nothing like their forerunners from the 1950s. At Cityview, Khabouth explained, “It’s a most high-end LED screen so the quality of the picture is incredible. You can watch a movie at 12 noon with the sun shining which you could not do in a regular drive-in movie theatre because the projection would get washed out.”

Ross said of the van Gogh exhibit, “The show is 360 degrees around them and it’s also projected from the ceiling down onto the floor. There’s one point where the animation of the art moves downwards and I see every car hit the brakes because it gives you the sensation that your car really is moving.”

Despite the sell-out crowds at their events, the popularity of drive-in venues is almost unanimously viewed as short-lived. Khabouth is clear that Cityview is a temporary venue: “I do not think it’s feasible to do once Covid is gone and there will be no more need for something like this.” Ross adds, “I think people will, as soon as it’s possible and safe, want to experience art as they always have, with other people, to feel the pulse and energy of that.”

But for now, a whole new generation is discovering the delights of drive-in entertainment.

The Toronto International Film Festival, which will run September 10-20, will also feature a drive-in component this year