Big Joy Project

"Big Joy: the Adventures of James Broughton" is a feature length documentary exploring the weird wonder brought to the world by this poet and filmmaker.

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Is This It? (FULL VERSION)

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BIG JOY: The Adventures of James Broughton FREE Screening Wednesday, June 18, 2014, 6 p.m. NYPL Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, South Court Auditorium  In honor of LGBT history month, please join us on June 18th at 7pm in South Court Auditorium of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building as we celebrate the DVD release of BIG JOY: The Adventures of James Broughton.  James Broughton is the most famous, inspiring, and interesting poet you might never have heard of. Born in Modesto California in 1913, Broughton lived in San Francisco most of his life, made 23 wildly different experimental films and wrote 23 books, mostly poetry. He received a special award for poetic cinema from Jean Cocteau in the 1950’s, made the quintessential hippie film, “The Bed,” in the 1960’s, and became a bard of Gay Liberation in the 1970’s and 80’s.  BIG JOY is a stunning exploration of and tribute to his life and work.  There will be a reception before the screening from 6-7pm with an opportunity to view some of Broughton’s own films. "A wonderful movie that every independent spirit should see and be inspired by." ~ Justin Vivian Bond Special Guest Justin Vivian Bond will welcome us to the screening and introduce the film; after, esteemed film scholars (and Broughton colleagues) Jon Gartenberg, Jim Hubbard & Robert Haller join us for a discussion of Broughton’s life and the film. FB Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/258810040972770/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular www.bigjoy.org. FREE and open to the Public.  Register online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/big-joy-the-adventures-of-james-broughton-tickets-11835290673 NYPL website http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2014/06/18/big-joy-adventures-james-broughton

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Seven artists contribute dance songs inspired by the award-winning documentary ‘Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton’

San Francisco, CA - JUNE 17, 2014 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELASE - San Francisco-based dance label Friends With Benefits Records today releases James Broughton: The Music Of...

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In this video, Mallory McKendry of The Whiskey Jackets talks about learning to find her own joy after watching the documentary "Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton."  Since watching the film Mallory has recorded several new live music videos and is working on a new album with The Whiskey Jackets that features her original song "Greyhound."  

James Broughton (November 10, 1913 - May 17, 1999) was a pioneer of experimental filmmaking, a central player in California's creative literary scene, a bard of sensuality and spirituality, and a preacher of Big Joy. His life's work was an attempt to discover the contradictory nature of his humanity and its roots; the result was a poetic and artistic body of work that continues to inspire creative people like Mallory today.  Finding joy is simple, according to Broughton: just "Follow your own weird."

Have you seen Big Joy yet? It's now available to stream on Netflix or download through iTunes!  Watch the trailer & find out more here: http://bigjoy.org/

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On June 17th, San Francisco based dance label Friends WIth Benefits Records will release a second remix EP in conjunction with Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton, entitled James Broughton: The Music Of His Dance (Vol. 2). The compilation features seven new songs by acclaimed underground dance artists, including Heaththrob, Hard Ton, and Lady Blacktronika. All songs feature archival audio of Broughton reading his poetry set to original music from a diverse group of musicians and producers from the dance community. This unique compilation brings Broughton’s poetry from the page to the dance floor and carries the message of Big Joy to an entirely new audience. Friends With Benefits Records, based in San Francisco, was founded in 2013 by David Sternesky, Mat dos Santos, and Trevor Sigler, and specializes in independent dance music and promoting the work of innovative electronic musicians, with a special focus on queer-identified talent.

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‘Big Joy’ Directors Stephen Silha and Eric Slade On the Legacy of James Broughton 

The TFF 2013 doc is now on VOD/DVD and digital platforms! 

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"It's one of the few films I've seen in the last five years that has really challenged my mind." ~ Megan Harris shares a thoughful and sassy response to seeing the documentary Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton.

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You see, love liberates. It doesn’t bind. Love says I love you, I love you if you’re in China, I love you if you’re across town, I love you if you’re in Harlem. I love you. I would like to be near you, I’d like to have your arms around me, I’d like to hear your voice in my ear. But that’s not possible now. So, I love you. Go.

Maya Angelou, Love Liberates (via distantheartbeats)

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LISTEN: Kenneth Kemp - "Bliss"

San Francisco-based Kenneth Kemp fuses the soul of chillout disco, the melodic synths of Giorgio Moroder, and the danceable pulse of modern indie-disco in this ode to "Bliss". Check out "Bliss" and all the other great tracks on Music Of His Dance Vol. 1 on iTunes or wherever you buy your music.  Music of His Dance Vol. 1: 1. Up Yours - "Bear Of Heaven" 2. The SyntheTigers ft. Tobirus Mozelle - "This Is It" 3. Two Dudes In Love - "Wondrous" 4. Juan Ramos - "The Music Of His Dance" 5. Kenneth Kemp - "Bliss" Learn more about James Broughton, whose poetry is used in Bliss and throughout the Music of His Dance series through the documentary Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton. Explore this and other releases on Friends With Benefits Records. Photo & video by Kitten Calfee.

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"Do not ask where  we go from here Nobody knows Some think they do but nobody really knows anything  about anything. We are only gurgles in the stream..." ~ James Broughton

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"This Is It" ~ A short film by the avant-garde filmmaker James Broughton. "James Broughton's creation myth, THIS IS IT, places a 2-year-old Adam and a bright apple-red balloon in a backyard garden of Eden, and works a small miracle of the ordinary. And since that miracle is what his film is about, he achieves a kind of casual perfection in matching means and ends." - Robert Greenspun, The New York Times "It's simple, inspired, and ecstatic. To watch Broughton's film you need a certain silence, a certain descending to the more subtle, more fragile levels of your being - otherwise, the film and its content will not reach you, it will break to pieces. I figure this is the main reason why films of the stature and subtlety and ecstasy of THIS IS IT never reach the New York Film Festival screen." - Jonas Mekas, The Village Voice "A seminal film that promises to affect the course of film art for some time to come." - Hollis Frampton Awards: First Prize, Yale Film Festival, 1972; First Prize, Hawaii Int'l Film Festival, 1972; First Prize, Sinking Creek Film & Video Festival, 1972; First Prize, Kenyon Film Festival, 1972. Find out more about this innovative filmmaker in the new documentary, "Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton."

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Juan Ramos is an American DJ and techno producer based in Berlin, Germany who infused James Broughton's poem "Song of the Godbody" with syncopated percussion and twinkling bells in this hypnotic deep house track “The Music Of His Dance.” Part of a beautiful collection of dance music that features poetry by James Broughton, available now on iTunes from Friends with Benefits records.

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James Broughton, Big Joy (Stephen Silla, 2013) ~  Watch the trailer at http://www.bigjoy.org

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James Broughton appeared on Screening Room in April, 1977. He screened and discussed the films Loony Tom: The Happy Lover, This Is It, Water Circle, Windowmobile and Testament.   Often called "the father of West Coast independent cinema," James Broughton (1913-1999) considered himself to be, first and foremost, a poet. Writing poems and making films were, for Broughton, simply two different ways of creating images with feeling.

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What else would you rather be doing?  Dividing the Eithers from the Ors?

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WATCH: A performance of James Broughton's poem "I took a sharp look" from his book Graffiti for the Johns of Heaven. Dedicated to Michael Seely for his help in making our film Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton.