OUTBURST ARTS presents CINEMA DAY: MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO

Published on: July 23, 2019

OUTBURST ARTS presents

CINEMA DAY:

MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO

Monday 26th August

6pm

Black Box

£4

Outburst queers up Cinema Day with a special screening of the 1991 cult classic My Own Private Idaho, starring River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves.

Directed by queer auteur Gus Van Sant and based (very loosely) on Shakespeare’s Henry plays, it’s an avant garde road movie about two teenage street hustlers, Mike (Phoenix), a narcoleptic gay drifter in search of love and belonging, and Scott (Reeves) his cocksure rich-kid side kick who’s just slumming it ‘til his trust fund kicks in. With career best performances by the two leads and one of the most achingly vulnerable unrequited love scenes in cinema, My Own Private Idaho was landmark film in the New Queer Cinema movement, an early 1990s explosion of unapologetically daring queer-themed indie film making.

It’s our perfect pick to fit with Cinema Day’s Youth theme, not only because of its brilliant portrayal of youthful queer desire and longing but also because it marked the emergence of a fresh, young, bold approach to queer storytelling that paved the way for a new generation of LGBTQ+ directors.

Supported by Film Hub NI

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