Hitting the road west to Los Angeles for its third annual edition, the Jalopnik Film Festival got off to a festive start at its opening gala event Friday night at Santa Monica Airport’s Barker Hangar.
We’ve been to many events at Barker, but never a screening, and the massive screen set up for the enthusiastic audience was a perfect way to view “Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman,” a feature length documentary written and directed by Adam Carolla and Nate Adams about the legendary movie star’s true love, auto racing.
In addition to the thrilling archival footage from Newman’s 35 year career, there are revealing interviews from Mario Andretti, Robert Redford, Jay Leno, Patrick Dempsey and Robert Wagner.
Afterward, in a Q&A, Carolla revealed that he owns 8 ½ of Newman’s race cars.
And the festival, which also featured a full day of screenings at The Ace Hotel in Downtown L.A. on Saturday was all about cars. Sponsored by Mazda, it kicked with an exclusive Ride & Drive Experience with the all-new 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata on a section of runway at Santa Monica Airport.
Discussing this year’s fest and the move to LA, Jalopnik Editor-in-Chief Matt Hardigree said, “Jalopnik believes that cars matter, so it’s great to have a partner like Mazda who believes that driving matters. It’s also a dream to bring the festival to Los Angeles, where car culture meets film culture and the weather is always great.”
