Synopsis
The time - the outset of a new millennium.

The place - Rome, the eternal city, sacred and profane.

Two events collide. While Catholics converge for the Jubilee, the most important Church pilgrimage in modern times, thousands of gays and lesbians from around the planet gather for the first international Gay Pride Celebration.

Are you ready?

Filmmaker Joe Balass is there - The Devil in the Holy Water is his vibrant document of that moment.

Critical and joyous, entertaining and thought-provoking, The Devil in the Holy Water goes to the epicentre of Catholic culture to get a reading on contemporary sexuality and morality.

While the Vatican opposes World Pride, drawing upon its considerable influence to try to stop the event, Italians themselves send a more complex - and ultimately tolerant - message.

The opening of the monumental holy doors at Saint Peter's inaugurates the Jubilee, while debate rages through the ancient city. Vatican kingmaker, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, finally concedes to an interview - while Imma Battaglia, a tempestuous Joan of Arc for our times, fearlessly spearheads the fight for gay visibility.

The music of Domenico Modugno sets the tone, and Balass takes to the streets, framing his interviews with astutely selected archival images - a gay priest speaking publicly at a 1982 demo, the first Italian gay marriage in 1992, and the Pope attacking homosexuals in 1994.

As the World Pride controversy heats up, the filmmaker encounters practical-minded grandmothers and rigid young neo-fascists, self-effacing nuns and ebullient drag queens. Pilgrims seeking absolution from sins, along with Emiliano and Pier Paolo, a couple of young guys who wander though the proceedings, just looking for a little fun.

The result is a candid, enlightening and often humorous, feature-length documentary. The Devil in the Holy Water captures two historic events as they intersect, highlighting a city and a culture in dynamic transition.

Filmmaker’s biography
Producer & director Joe Balass is an independent filmmaker working in both fiction and documentary. He currently resides in Montreal where he operates an independent production company, Compass Productions Inc. In addition, he also freelances as an editor, photographer and cameraman. He was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1966 and after escaping with his family at the age of four, he eventually settled in Canada. His work has taken him all over Asia, Europe and North America. Balass has produced and directed a number of award-winning films and videos, including Nana, George & Me (1997). He expresses a very spontaneous blend of seriousness and humour in his approach to filmmaking.
At present, Joe Balass is working on his first feature-length fiction film as well as a number of documentary projects.