It’s hard to imagine more aptly named person than Linda (beautiful) Joy. Linda was a vital and seemingly eternally optimistic young woman who came into the lives of those of us who hung around AFCOOP back in the eighties when she became the co-op’s co-ordinator. An aspiring artist, Linda’s life suddenly changed when, tragically, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She spent the remainder of her short life fighting both her condition and the paternalistic medical system that so coldly imposed its ‘wisdom’ upon her. Although she was an acquaintance, Linda quickly became a friend after she approached me for advice on how she might go about documenting her journey. During a period of remission, Linda went to Newfoundland to visit NIFCO and while there she asked the late Mike Jones to shoot an interview with her. Fortunately for us all, Mike conducted the interview in the best way possible, by standing back and encouraging Linda to speak directly to the camera, to simply tell her story, to share how she had ‘beat the system’ and was on her way to recovery. When she returned, she asked if I would help her make a film from the 16mm footage, which at that time had not yet been synced. We were all very much involved in the Co-operative movement back then and I was about to fly out to the Winnipeg Film Group for a conference, when I heard that Linda had relapsed. I went to the hospital to see her before I left and the half hour I spent with her in that sad hospital room became a compelling and lasting image in my mind. By the time I’d returned to Halifax, Linda had passed and I was eventually given a box of raw, untouched footage that contained one of the most compelling interviews I had ever seen. I sat down at my Steenbeck and slowly constructed the film that is LINDA JOY. Because of the intimacy and honesty of her interview, LINDA JOY continues to resonate with audiences almost 40 years later.