Kickstarter

Join the journey to Big Joy! 

We want your help to tell the spectacular story of James Broughton, a man whose life and words promise to inspire thousands more to do what he did so well: Follow Your Own Weird. 

James Broughton (1913-1999) was a pre-Beat-era poet, pioneer underground filmmaker, lover, gay man and artist who dared to live boldly and experiment wildly. Broughton is the subject of our nearly complete documentary film, Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton. We're in the final stretch of the film and we need your help to finish it. 

The money raised here will be used to pay for archival footage, sound mix, color correction, adding music, and bringing James' poems and journals to life through animation. All of these finishing touches are essential to truly bring the magical brilliance of James' life into the documentary.

Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton explores Broughton's complex path, where “Adventure - not predicament” is one of life’s maxims, and where nursery rhymes and fantastical images pave the way into the mystical, serious and truly profound. It chronicles his life, his art, his rather unconventional choices (such as marrying a much younger man later in life) and his ceaseless ability to follow his own artistic weird. All told, he made 23 films and published 23 books of poetry. 

James' groundbreaking cinema work won him the 1989 American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Experimental Film. His famous 1967 experimental film "The Bed," had to be edited in a porn studio because of full frontal nudity (see our trailer for the juicy details). Later, in 1979, James shot an 11-minute film of an erection using the camera originally designed to document the Manhattan Project. Talk about 'Make Love Not War'. 

Film and poetry weren't the only ways James manifested art and beauty into being. He was a charter member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a queer service organization, giving to the community for many years as Sister Sermonetta. James was also an early bard of the Radical Faeries, a counter-cultural movement that redefined queer identity through spirituality. Throughout his life, in every way he could, James acted as a spokesman for Big Joy.

You can see our trailer here.

Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton is nearing completion. In our last Kickstarter campaign, your generous support helped us finish the interviews for the film. Now, with your help, we can finish this incredible work. 

This is it. 

This is It 

and I am It 

and You are It 

and so is That 

and He is It 

and She is It 

and It is It 

and That is That

 O it is This 

and it is Thus 

and it is Them 

and it is Us 

and it is Now 

and Here It is 

and Here We are 

so This is It 

      -- James Broughton

Thank you for helping us bring James Broughton's Big Joy to the world!

 
Rewards Note: The estimated delivery date is for the dvd, other prizes such as t-shirts, poetry subscription, video poem will be delivered in August 2012 (well before the June 2013 date).