The WL Drive-In Cinema; Much More Than Just A Movie Screening

Last month we announced we’d be putting on a series of drive-in cinema nights, running throughout July and August, to fill a little bit of that fun shaped hole left in your summer but the widespread cancellation of festivals and outdoor events.

Since then, we’ve been excitedly unveiling our line up of films, including local favourites, cult classics and an award-winning documentary. Whether you’re into gritty 90s film noir or prefer a shanty singing rom-com, we reckon there’s just about something for everyone in the mix.

And, with the opening weekend under our belts, we figured now was the perfect time to give you a little more info on what you can expect from the WL drive-in experience for the rest of the summer.

While drive-in nights are popping up in gravel car parks all over the country, we’re excited to be hosting ours in front of one of Cornwall’s – and perhaps the whole country’s – most picturesque coastal backdrops, overlooking Watergate Bay. The location, which usually plays host to Boardmasters’ ‘The Point’ stage is the perfect place to catch up with your mates in an open-air setting, grab a beer and watch the sunset, before the sky goes dark and the film rolls.

To help you spend your pre-game in style, we’ve laid on everything you need, with street food and ice cream trucks, live music, short films curated by Vero, a giant teepee to shelter from the elements (on the wild off-chance there’s a bit of drizzle) and of course, a well-stocked bar, serving a range of drinks including Lucky Saint non-alcoholic beers for the drivers.

There’ll even be a socially-distanced silent disco for anyone who fancies a pre-movie boogie, put on by our friends at Korev Lager. And for anyone who’d rather stay put in their cars, the fine folk down the hill at Wax will be delivering food straight to your wagon- with their full restaurant menu available to be ordered directly from their website and popped in through your window.

Once the sun’s dropped into the sea, the movie will play from two separate screens, set up to offer everyone ample viewing. Cars will be parked a few meters apart, allowing attendees on balmier nights to role out a rug or set up deck chairs if you’d like to watch al-fresco. The movie sound will be beamed directly to your car stereo via an FM frequency and you’re welcome to bring extra radios or speakers to create in-vehicle surround sound. If you’re rolling with a luxury set up in the back of your van (or just a mattress between the tools) you’re welcome to park rear-toward the screen and swing open your back doors.

The Films:

As you probably know by now, we’ll be kicking off the series with 90’s Cornish surf flick Blue Juice, which features both an all-star cast, and a lot of extras you probably know from down the pub. If you’re unfamiliar, you can find out more about the film here.

Following that, we’ll be showing Point Break every Friday from the 31st July until the 28th August. The film needs no introduction, but our resident cultural commentator Paul Evans has penned his opinion on why, almost 30 years on, it still matters to surfers. Read that here.

Every Sunday evening will see The Fisherman’s Friends singers performing LIVE before a showing of the 2019 film based on the group. And, in amongst all that, we’ll be showing cult classic Pulp Fiction, Back to the Future and Grease, plus skateboarding origin story Dogtown & Z-Boys.