I Pledge Allegiance to Myself is a portrait of Daimon, a 17 year old trying to find a sense of self in the middle of the early 80’s punk explosion. A brush with Hare Krishnas introduces him to the idea of bhakti, the concept of devotion, something he cannot find in the suburban landscape. Daimon takes off and dives headfirst into the music scene with the other punks.

He joins a band and is thrown into a world of testosterone, drugs, and music. Though it promises community, he is still unsettled. Daimon must figure out his own moral boundaries in a world defined by the rejection of traditional codes. As the band gains popularity, its members are faced with the cost of success in a landscape littered with lost souls.

Note from Joy

I finished writing the screenplay in 2012, shot in 2013, and in 2015 finished editing the film but I hated how it came out so I never showed it to anyone. During Covid, I started to work on it again but this time with Ziggy Gamble, the editor for I AM THAT. We are currently working on the re-edit. The entire process has been do it yourself and I intend to follow that through by self distributing the film in early 2021.