Joy

FICTION

Joy

Sudabeh Mortezai

Joy is a young Nigerian woman caught in the vicious cycle of sex trafficking. She works the streets to pay off debts to her exploiter, Madame, while supporting her family in Nigeria and hoping for a better life for her little daughter in Vienna. As Joy struggles to understand her role in this merciless system of exploitation, she is instructed by Madame to supervise Precious, a teenage girl fresh from Nigeria who is not ready to accept her fate.

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Technical Data
Running time:	101
Format:	digital
Screen ratio:	1:1.85
Language spoken:	Pidgin, English, German
Production year:	2018

Credits
Director(s):	Sudabeh Mortezai
Writer(s):	Sudabeh Mortezai
Cinematography:	Klemens Hufnagl
Editing:	Oliver Neumann
Key cast:	Joy Alphonsus, Precious Sanusi, Angela Ekeleme
Producers:	Sabine Moser, Oliver Neumann
Premiere:	September 3, 2018 Venice (Venice Days)
Awards (selection):	Hearst Award + Europa Cinemas Label (Venice), Best Film (London BFI Film Festival), Silver Hugo (Chicago), Vienna Film Prize, Best Actress Award for Joy Anwulika Alphonsus (Sevilla), L'Etoile d’or (Marrakech), Max Ophüls Price Best Young Actress for Joy Alphonsus + Max Ophüls Price for socially relevant film (Saarbrücken), Best Actress Award to Joy Alphonsus + Best Costume Design (Graz/Diagonale), Austrian Film Awards: Best Fiction Film + Best Director + Best Actress + Best Script

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FreibeuterFilm GmbH

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Sudabeh Mortezai

«Wenn man sich in die Situation einer Frau dort versetzt, wird es schwieriger zu werten.»

Es ist ein dünner Grat zwischen immenser Schuldenlast und prekärem Aufenthaltsstatus, auf dem nigerianische Frauen, die als Sexarbeiterinnen in Wien landen, versuchen, sich einen Weg in die Freiheit zu bahnen. Sudabeh Mortezai dreht gerade ihren zweiten Spielfilm JOY, der ein gnadenloses Ausbeutungssystem vor Augen führt und es dem Publikum schwer macht, eine klare Positionen gegenüber Opfern und Tätern einzunehmen.

Sudabeh Mortezai’s JOY to the Lido

The Venice Festival's Giornate degli Autori section will host the world premiere of Sudabeh Mortezai's much-anticipated new film JOY – the story of a young woman from Nigeria caught in the vicious cycle of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

«The fate of these people involves us all.»

When Nigerian sex workers in Europe manage to pay off their debts and buy their freedom, most of them have one overriding aim: to switch to the side of the pimps. A vicious system of winners and losers features women on both sides. In her second feature film, JOY, Sudabeh Mortezai depicts a relentless cycle where the only real aim is to survive, where morality and solidarity are luxuries that nobody in a system like this can possibly afford.

JOYful Venice Days

Sudabeh Mortezai’s second feature JOY takes two of the major awards given away within the Giornate degli autori sidebar. JOY is the first winner of the newly launched HEARST AWARD for Best Film by a female director, and also received the EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL, that supports the theatrical release and the visibility of the winning film throughout Europe.

Variety: «A standout in this year’s Venice Days program»

«Austrian-Iranian filmmaker Sudabeh Mortezai doubles down on the promise of 'Macondo' with a tough, fully inhabited portrayal of Nigerian migrant sex workers.» Read more of Variety's enthusiastic review of the Venice Hearst Award-winner JOY

JOY all over –
with major awards in London and Chicago

Sudabeh Mortezai’s second feature film, recently awarded in Venice, garners major distinctions in LONDON and CHICAGO: Best Film Award at the 62^nd BFI London Film Festival ("a provocative and unique film offering a devastating portrait of human resilience in the most inhuman of environments") and Silver Hugo: Special Jury Prize at the 54^th Chicago IFF

film comment on JOY: Impressively distilled in plot and style

Impressively distilled in plot and style, Joy nonetheless explores (but does not untie) a formidable knot of issues around money, migration, motherhood, race, policing, pragmatism, and violence both personal and systemic. Read more of Nick Davis’ thoughts on JOY in film comment.

Sevilla awards Joy for her "masterful interpretation"

Joy Anwulika Alphonsus wins the Best Actress Award at the Sevilla film festival: „ she carries the film through her captivating, open, honest, intelligent and authentic performance. A masterful interpretation of an indomitable drama." concludes the jury. It’s award n° 6 since the Venice premiere for Sudabeh Mortezai’s JOY shortly after winning the Vienna Film Prize 2018.

JOY reaches for Golden Star at Marrakech

After Venice, London and Chicago Sudabeh Mortezai’s JOY takes again a major award: The 17^th Marrakech film festival honors her second feature film with its main prize, the Etoile d’or.

Young Austrian cinema sweeps 7 awards at MOP Saarbrücken

Each of the three Austrian contenders in the main Max Ophüls Prize competition took at least one major award: JOY by Sudabeh Mortezai the MOPs for the socially relevant film and best young actress Joy Alphonsus, NEVRLAND by Gregor Schmidinger the MOPs of the Youth Jury and for best young actor Simon Frühwirth, KAVIAR by Elena Tikhonova the MOP Audience Award.

JOY on Netflix

JOY worldwide: As of May 24, 2019 Sudabeh Mortezai’s acclaimed second feature film JOY is available for the international audience all around the globe on Netflix . The only territories excepted are Austria and South Tyrol.

LITTLE JOE and JOY in the race for EFA

The European Film Academy has announced a list of 46 feature films eligible for European Film Awards 2019, including two outstanding works from Austrian female directors: JOY by Sudabeh Mortezai and LITTLE JOE by Jessica Hausner. Nominations will be unveiled at the Sevilla FF on November 9. The Austrian-German co-production HEIMAT IS A SPACE IN TIME is one of the 12 selected films running for Best European Documentary 2019.

With JOY into the Oscar race

The Austrian Oscar committee has selected JOY by Sudabeh Mortezai as Austria’s submission to the Oscar-nominations in the International Feature Film category.

Jessica Hausner and Sudabeh Mortezai part of the London FF juries

The BFI LONDON Film Festival listens to two Austrian voices in the juries: Jessica Hausner will preside over the jury of First Feature Competition, giving away the Sutherland Award. Sudabeh Mortezai, winner of the Best Film Award 2018 for Joy, has been invited to join the official competition jury to decide on the most outstanding film of this year’s main competition.

92^nd Academy Awards: Sudabeh Mortezai’s JOY disqualified

Two months after the submission of JOY as Austria’s entry for the International Feature Competition, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences informed the Austrian selection committee that Sudabeh Mortezai’s film is ineligible because its dialogue is predominantly in English. The Austrian committee has protested.

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