Joy

After a loveless life in homes, where the supervisor can't keep his hands to himself, the girls are always quarrelling and social workers are not lenient with surly teenagers, abandoned child Joy only finds comfort with the baby blankets she was once left behind in. Especially now that her best friend Denise is heavily pregnant, Joy is obsessed with meeting her biological mother, even though the latter years ago rejected an official request for contact. Joy is convinced her mother also yearns for a reunification. After all, she called her daughter Joy. From the opening shot, in which the crying baby is abandoned somewhere on a dark evening, the spectator stays with the unwanted girl. Only the camera sees what is happening to her. The camera is even so close that you can hear Joy's breathing and heartbeat. With this consistently sustained 'close-up', director Mijke de Jong penetrates deeply into the psyche of this anguished but vital young girl.