JOY! PORTRAIT OF A NUN

A film by Joe Balass

Directed by

Joe Balass

Languages

English, French

Produced by

Joe Balass

71 min, Documentary, Quebec, Canada, 2012

Spiritual sanctuary, sex, sisterhood and a gathering of faeries.

Synopsis
A shamanistic world of sexuality, spiritualism and political activism. A bearded nun. Through an intimate lens, this feature documentary takes us on a journey with Sister Missionary P. Delight, one of the founders of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. In 1979, Mish, as he is affectionately known by his friends, created an Order of gay male nuns to promote a philosophy of promulgating universal joy and expiating guilt. Both he and the Order have come a long way since then. Today, the Sisters are spread out across the globe, and Mish lives in the middle of the woods of the Deep South, in a community of Radical Faeries. JOY! follows Mish and his community over a seven year period, along the way we discover the history of the movement and the highs and lows of his own personal journey.

 

Credits
Script and Direction : Joe Balass

Direction of Photography : Joe Balass

Sound Design : Claude Beaugrand

Sound Mixing : Luc Boudrias
Editing : Annie Jean

Story Editor : Giampaolo Marzi
Production : Joe Balass

 

Financial Partners

SODEC

Conseil des Arts du Canada
Conseil des Arts et des lettres du Québec

ONF
Fonds canadien du film et de la vidéo indépendants

Joe Balass

Joe Balass is an independent filmmaker working in both fiction and documentary. He resides in Montreal where he operates a production company, Compass Productions Inc. In addition, he also works as a freelance producer, editor and cameraman. He was born in Baghdad, Iraq and after escaping with his family at the age of four, he eventually settled in Canada. Balass has produced and directed a number of award-winning films and videos. He expresses a very spontaneous blend of seriousness and humour in his approach to filmmaking, like in JOY! Portrait of a Nun, a documentary from 2012. The Cinémathèque Québécoise organised a retrospective of his work in 2014.   Filmography   The Length of the Alphabet (2013 / 52 min) JOY! Portrait of a Nun (2012 / 71 min) Baghdad Twist (2007 / 34 min) Parting Words (2006 / 8 min) The Devil in the Holy Water (2002 / 94 min) Nana, George and Me (1997 / 48 min)