Raphael Vassallo Ever wondered why the concept of ‘Drive-in Cinema’ – so popular in the 1950s and 1960s if TV series such as Happy Days are to be believed – has fallen by the wayside?
According to Kinemastik, a local NGO dedicated to all things celluloid, the decline has much to do with skyrocketing real estate prices and the giant strides taken by cinematic technology over the past 40 years.
But that’s no reason not to revisit the concept once more, and over the next six Sundays (starting tonight), Kinemastik will convert a small vacant plot just off the Mriehel bypass, into an old-fashioned drive-in cinema... with a little technological innovation thrown in for good measure.
“Kinemastik always seeks to project films in open spaces,” vice-president Emma Mattei said about the NGO’s latest venture. “We like the idea of taking film out of the cinema into novel settings. Our annual international short film festival always takes place outdoors during the summer. Last year we organised a series of mobile cinema events, consisting of a truck with an inbuilt projector, that we parked in public spaces around Malta.”
Like all reinventions however, Kinemastik’s drive-in cinema represents a technological upgrade over the original product: no need to roll down your windows to follow the dialogue; instead, the movie sound will be broadcast directly through your car stereo speaker system.
“It works on the same principle as an iTrip,” Kinemastik president Slavko Vukovik explains. “It’s a cheaper way of doing things, using a basic FM transmitter, and it guarantees good sound, which is so important when you are watching film al fresco...”
Otherwise, the concept remains more or less unchanged: a throwback to a forgotten trend.
“Call it nostalgia if you like, but we are the generation that never got to make out in the back of a car whilst watching Rebel Without a Cause,” Mattei points out. “So in a sense it’s novel.”
The six-week project kicks off this evening with Terrence Malick’s critically acclaimed Badlands (1973). Described, as “cool, brilliant and ferociously American”, the cult film portrays a young couple (Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek) embarking on a Midwestern crime spree.
Emma Mattei hints that the choice of opening movie was far from incidental: “As Malick said about Badlands, ‘Nostalgia is a powerful feeling – it can drown out anything. I wanted the picture to set up like a fairy tale, outside time. Which how one should view a contemporary drive-in cinema...”
Space is however limited, and admittance to this evening’s drive-in cinema is limited to Kinemastik members only. For more information on how to become a Kinemastik member and how to get to the event, go to: http://kinemastik.wordpress.com
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Search:
MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
Download MaltaToday Sunday issue front page in pdf file format
