Last night, we kicked off the 2nd Annual Jalopnik Film Festival at Classic Car Club Manhattan. It was an evening full of stars, supercars, and lots and lots of free alcohol. Here's how it went.
One of the goals of the Jalopnik Film Festival is to get people truly excited about cars, so that we can share our obsessive passion with those that wouldn't normally be associated with this culture — and exactly why Classic Car Club Manhattan was the perfect venue for the launch party.
As soon as you arrived, provided that you purchased tickets or were on the guest list, you were greeted by the timeless curves of the sports cars of yesteryear, not limited to a near-perfect replica of a Ford GT40, a Porsche Speedster, and the star of the show: A bright red Volvo P1800S.
After about an hour's worth of rubbing elbows and drinking Blinker Fluid with car culture giants such as /DRIVE presenter Mike Spinelli, Car Matchmaker host Spike Feresten, the insanely charismatic former transcontinental record holder Alex Roy, and all of the current Jalopnik staff, you would've been treated to the main event - an independent film sponsored by Volvo Cars and Jalopnik, dubbed "Ignition".
The exquisitely shot film told the story of a new-school teen that reconnected with his old-school grandfather via the timeless good looks and reliable mechanical components of the aforementioned Volvo P1800, ending on an illustrative note — that cars ultimately represent freedom and can play a hell of a role in life, if only we let them. It was inspiring, to say the very least.
The festivities will continue tonight at the Nitehawk Cinema, where we will premiere even more inspiring independently made films and drink even more alcohol. If you have your screening pass, check here for the details on parking, and entrance times.
Tavarish is the founder of APiDA Online and writes about buying and selling cool cars on the internet. He owns the world's cheapest Mercedes S-Class, a graffiti-bombed Lexus, and he's the only Jalopnik author that has never driven a Miata. He also has a real name that he didn't feel was journalist-y enough so he used a pen name and this was the best he could do.