INNOCENTS ABROAD (1991) & TOURIST SHORTS
About this Event
In Summer 2026, Belfast braced for an unprecedented amount of tourists. So unprecedented, the city council realised what a mess the place was and had to clean everything up. And turn every unoccupied space into a pop-up bar. But amongst the mayhem of cash-injection and rejuvenation, did no one stop to think of the tourist? What does a tourist think of all this? Can a tourist even think? Is there more to a tourist than just investment opportunites?
Normal Cinema Club is determined to get the under the skin of those brave travellers and know the unknowable with this night of film dedicated to worldliness and wanderlust.
INNOCENTS ABROAD by Les Blank, Vikram Jayanti, and Chris Simon gets on a tour bus and acts as a fly on the wall. We follow a gang on intrepid tourists as they race around Europe, covering 22 cities in 10 countries in 14 days. What more is there to learn about a place than what your charming tour guide can tell you !! The stereotype of the brash and dumb American tourist is not present in this film, just a group of open-hearted and curious people on the road to learn more about the world we live in. And guess what folks... we're along for the ride. This is among the sweetest of Blank's films, and features one of his best and most eclectic soundtracks.
In our programme of shorts we see how the tourism industrial complex affects the individual. In Will McConnell's A TOURIST STORY, a Chinese tourist discovers the best the Northern Irish Tourist board has to offer in the aftermath of a divorce. Katie McFadden's PICTURE ME GONE is a dream-like meditation on voyeurism and the loneliness of life in the aquarium. SUSANA by Amandine Thomas and Gerardo Coello Escalante follows the titular Susana as she navigates Mexico City on a solo trip, falling in with a young crowd and having her eyes opened to the realities that facilitate her vacation.
The amazing artwork for this screening was designed by the wickedly talented Andrew Pope (on instagram as @andrewrpope) !!
The Beanbag Cinema is a micro-cinema venue situated on the ground floor with a gender-neutral restroom. Please get in touch with any questions about accessibility. Doors will open at 6.30pm, with the first films beginning shortly after 7pm. This is a strictly 18+ event.
Normal Cinema Club is supported by FilmHubNI and wishes to thank the Belfast Film Festival for their continued support, and Les Blank Films for their help with this screening, and all their other work too.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 0.00
