STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Hailey Library will launch IDAHO in the Movies, a new monthly series of free movie screenings, on Thursday, Oct. 17.
The first film to be screened—at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17 at Hailey’s Town Center West, reached cult classic status bringing loads of attention to Idaho. Admission is free and the popcorn will be popping.
Unfortunately, the name of the film can’t be divulged in print. But read on and guess.
Filmed in Preston, Idaho—a town of 5,600 on the southern border of Idaho—this dynamite film revolves around a teenager who lives with his grandmother and 32-year-old brother who spends his time cruising chat rooms for ladies.
The teen has no signs of a Napoleon complex. Instead, he has trouble fitting in and no safe haven at home or at school. Soon, he finds himself on a mission to help his best friend—a morose Hispanic boy who speaks little English--take away the Student Body President title from a mean teen.
The film, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, won numerous awards, including three MTV Movie Awards for Breakthrough Male Performance, Best Musical Performance and Best Movie. And it provided plenty of gut-splitting funny moments and quotable lines.
“As the golden days of autumn get colder and nights longer, now is the perfect time to catch a movie and snack on popcorn,” said Kristin Fletcher, the library’s programs manager.
The library will follow this film up with a film in November celebrating North American Heritage Month. That film, a multi-award winning 2018 film written by Sherman Alexie, was filmed on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. It revolves around a young Indian who leaves the reservation to retrieve his dead father.
Other films will include a kid-friendly animation about two wolf pups lost in the wilderness, an ex-con and salon singer living along the Salmon River, a 1950s musical romance set in Sun Valley, an ex-cowboy outlaw turned respective judge and one about a bank robber hiding in a remote mountain cabin.
“This series has a little bit for everyone!” said Fletcher.