Drifter is not Sung Kang’s first film as a director, and even the festival that premiered it has said so. The Toronto International Film Festival first announced the movie as Kang’s directorial debut in its Discovery lineup. It then added a correction to its own press release noting the film had previously been billed that way, followed by a plain statement: “This is his second feature film.”
The first was Shaky Shivers, a 1980s-style horror comedy. Kang directed it from a script by Andrew McAllister and Aaron Strongoni, and it played Screamfest in 2022. The festival’s own filmmaker bio described it as Kang’s feature directorial debut. So Drifter is Kang’s sophomore film. It is also the first he co-wrote, directed and starred in, and the first built around the thing that made him a household name in car circles.
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What ‘Drifter’ is
The premise is simple, in the best B-movie way. The SEMA announcement last October described it as the story of a solitary janitor who finds redemption and belonging through competitive drifting, with Kang writing, directing and starring.
The car carrying the story is “Lola,” a Toyota Corolla AE86, and SEMA’s show director mentioned that attendees could see multiple builds of Lola on the show floor. Building more than one Lola was a practical call.
Film productions rarely get by with one hero car, and drift films have it even worse. A car that spends its working day at full lock, bouncing off the rev limiter, will cook clutches, overheat diffs, snap axles and eat tires in minutes. Backup cars are cheap insurance against a shoot day lost to a broken part. And if the story tracks a car’s transformation, you may need different versions of the “same” car at different stages of the build. A production shooting at live events can’t afford to be down to one car.
Shooting inside a real event
The most unusual production decision was also the riskiest. In a July 2025 Instagram announcement, Kang said part of the film would be shot live in front of a crowd at Legends of Drift. That was a working drift competition and car show at Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey, on August 23–24, 2025, and he invited fans to show up and possibly end up in the movie.
That’s a smart way to stretch an independent budget. You get a packed grandstand without paying hundreds of extras, and you get genuine competition driving that would be expensive to fake. The trade-off is control. A live event runs on its own schedule, whatever the director’s shot list says. Weather, red flags and mechanical failures don’t care about call sheets. If a real competitor stuffs a car into the wall, you can’t ask for a second take.
Why the AE86, and why Hawaii
Kang’s filmmaking has an unusual regional thread. The Hawai’i International Film Festival picked Drifter as the Centerpiece Presentation of its 46th edition, which runs October 21 to November 5 on O’ahu, followed by screenings on the Neighbor Islands. HIFF says Kang will be honored at the festival and attend in person. The festival describes the film as a love letter to car culture, community, and Hawai’i’s 1990s underground drifting scene.
HIFF artistic director Anderson Le explained the fit: “Hawai’i was one of the earliest places where Japanese drift culture took root” in the West. That’s a piece of history many mainland enthusiasts miss. Before drifting had a pro series and a YouTube economy, it traveled with the island’s heavy Japanese import influence and grassroots scene.
The AE86 is the natural car for that story. It’s a light, rear-wheel-drive Corolla from an era when most economy cars had switched to front-wheel drive. That made it one of the few cheap, balanced platforms that would rotate predictably under throttle and handbrake. It was a working-class drift car long before it became a collector’s item priced like one.
Buyer beware: the movie-car effect
If Drifter sends you shopping for a Hachiroku, go in clear-eyed. These cars are now roughly four decades old. That means the usual suspects for any 1980s unibody Japanese car: rust in the structural areas, tired suspension bushings, and trim parts that may be hard to find. Any AE86 advertised as having “drift history” should be treated as a car that has probably been abused. Check the chassis for straightness, inspect the rear axle and diff, and look closely at any welded or seam-reinforced areas before you pay for someone else’s weekend fun.
Expect some sellers to lean on the movie in their listings. A film doesn’t change a car’s condition, so price it on what you find when you crawl underneath.
The legal fine print for anyone inspired
Drift movies have a habit of sending people into empty parking lots, and California law is blunt about that. Vehicle Code section 23109(c) prohibits motor vehicle exhibitions of speed on a highway or in an offstreet parking facility, and also bars aiding or abetting one. The same statute defines a “sideshow” as two or more people blocking or impeding traffic to perform stunts, speed contests or reckless driving for spectators. Starting January 1, 2029, a court can suspend a driver’s license for 90 days to six months for an exhibition-of-speed violation that happens as part of a sideshow.
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There’s also an insurance side. Standard personal auto policies are written for commuting. If you take a car to a drift day, read your policy for track and competition exclusions before you go. If you own a modified classic like an AE86, ask whether you need an agreed-value policy rather than one that pays out on a generic book value. The legal route to getting sideways is an organized event at a closed course, with coverage that actually applies there.
Kang’s credentials aren’t borrowed
Film fans know Han. The build community knows Kang as the guy who keeps showing up with cars that are actually finished, which at SEMA is rarer than it should be. SEMA’s release lists his earlier show projects: the award-winning Fugu Z Datsun 240Z, the “Project Underdog” Ford Maverick built with high school students, and the Doc Z. For the 2025 show he brought back the Fugu Z for its 10th anniversary and debuted a Veilside 240Z nicknamed “78.” SEMA also tapped him to host the first SEMA Industry Honors that year.
That track record is why the car community is willing to give Drifter the benefit of the doubt.
What’s still missing
For all the festival stops, the official materials still leave the most practical question open: when and where regular audiences can see it. SEMA’s announcement only said the film was set for a 2026 release. Neither TIFF nor HIFF names a distributor or a general release date. Until one is announced, the festival circuit is the only way to see Lola on a big screen, so start sweet-talking anyone with a TIFF or HIFF pass.
Is the AE86 the right hero car for a drift movie, or would you have cast something with more muscle as Lola? Tell us in the comments.
Images Via: Wikipedia
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