Rev Bombing the Red Carpet When TIFF first announced that Sung Kang’s DRIFTER would have
Rev Bombing the Red Carpet
When TIFF first announced that Sung Kang’s DRIFTER would have its World Premiere in Toronto, one important piece was missing: when exactly would it happen? Now the full Festival schedule is out, and the answer could hardly be better for Toronto’s car crowd.
DRIFTER premieres Saturday, September 12 at 8:45 PM at Scotiabank Theatre in downtown Toronto, with additional public screenings Monday, September 14 at 7:30 PM and Friday, September 18 at 8:30 PM. A fourth Monday-morning showing is reserved for TIFF press and media.
The Saturday night premiere is obviously the one to attend. This isn’t simply another screening of the movie described in our earlier article. It’s the first public showing of Kang’s feature directorial debut anywhere in the world, during one of the biggest film festivals on the planet.
A World Premiere brings the photographers, invited guests, media circus and filmmakers, usually with an introduction and potentially a post-film discussion. And despite TIFF not yet publishing a guest list, let’s dispense with the suspense: Sung Kang is going to be there.
Kang already came to Toronto earlier this year for the Canadian International AutoShow, where he spent three days meeting fans and promoting DRIFTER. He’ll return to Ontario again on August 23 for RaceWarz at Toronto Motorsports Park, where organizers are advertising a Kang meet-and-greet and DRIFTER showcase. The notion that he would then skip the World Premiere of the movie he wrote, directed and stars in, less than three weeks later, requires considerably more imagination than believing he’ll simply show up.
The next challenge is getting through the door. Visa Infinite cardholders get their shot Saturday, August 29 at 10:00 AM, ahead of the August 31 general public sale. We’re betting DRIFTER gets Scotiabank’s big auditorium, and we’ll be online early trying to secure three seats.
But there may be another show happening outside.
This is downtown Toronto on a Saturday night, with Han from Fast & Furious arriving to premiere a drifting movie. I fully expect the local car community to manufacture its own unofficial welcoming committee: modified Japanese cars prowling Richmond Street, stereos blasting Fast & Furious music, engines hammering rev-limiters and the inevitable collection of hooligans demonstrating that concepts like speeding and drifting have not been entirely confined to the cinema screen.
TIFF may be hosting the World Premiere. Toronto car culture will provide the surround sound.
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