Years before the Beats arrived in San Francisco, the city exploded with artistic expressions: painting, theatre, film, poetry. At its center was the groundbreaking filmmaker and poet James Broughton.
From documentary filmmakers Stephen Silha and Eric Slade, Big Joy explores Broughton’s passionate embrace of life, his proudly pansexual transcendence and his fiercely independent mantra: “Follow your own weird.”
Broughton’s remarkable story spans the post-war San Francisco Renaissance, his influence on the Beat generation, his escape to Europe during the McCarthy years, a lifetime of acclaim for his joyous experimental films and poetry celebrating the human body, the discovery of his soulmate at age 61, and finally, his ascendancy as a revered bard of sexual liberation.
Watch the trailer for Big Joy below. The film is available now on Dekkoo.
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