Saturday, June 22, 2013

Big Joy

James Broughton embracing big joy
Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton, dirs. Dawn Logsdon, Stephen Silha & Eric Slade, 2012, USA, 83 min. 
Saturday, June 22, 4:00 pm @ Castro

James Broughton & Joel Singer
(Disclaimer: I am friends with several people involved in making and promoting the film, so I won’t even pretend this is an unbiased review.) James Broughton was a poet and filmmaker, sexual revolutionary, father, teacher, radical faerie, and Sister of Perpetual Indulgence. He was a precursor to the Beat poets and chronicler of the Summer of Love — Broughton’s 1967 film The Bed broke ground in showing full frontal nudity, blazing the trail for many others. Big Joy combines archival footage, readings from Broughton’s diaries and poems, and interviews with luminaries whom he influenced, including Armistead Maupin, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Anna Halprin, George Kuchar, Pauline Kael, Keith Hennessy, and his soulmate Joel Singer. You may not know the name James Broughton, but his life and works influenced the world we live in, and particularly the way we think of love and sex and human bodies. Among Broughton’s mottos were “Follow your own weird!” and “When in doubt, twirl.” When in doubt, watch this movie. Highly recommended, a Must See for anyone interested in film, poetry, sex, humanity, dance, faeries, or life.

Official website with trailer • IMDb pageKickstarter campaign for distribution funding • Facebook page

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