“Joybubbles” is filmmaker Rachael J. Morrison’s debut feature documentary, which just premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary Competition. Built almost entirely from archival film footage and audio recordings, the film resurrects the singular life and voice of Joe Engressia—later known as Joybubbles—a blind phone phreak who, as a child, discovered he could whistle precise tones to manipulate telephone systems and place free long-distance calls in the 1970s.
Born blind and often misunderstood, Joe grew up feeling isolated from both his family and the wider world. The telephone became his portal outward: a tool for exploration, mischief, and ultimately connection. Through hacked phone lines, Joe forged friendships with a loose underground network of fellow phone phreaks, as well as other blind people similarly searching for community and belonging. “Joybubbles“ traces how these disembodied voices—traveling across wires and distances—offered Joe a sense of intimacy and identity that physical spaces often denied him, revealing a poignant story about technology not as cold infrastructure, but as a lifeline for human connection.
How did you first learn about Joe Engressia and come to work with this story?
I read his obituary in The New York Times in 2007. I was immediately amazed by his life and surprised I had never heard of him. I had never heard of phone phreaks or people hacking the telephone system before computers existed.
The other half of his life—as Joybubbles—was equally intriguing. I assumed that, given how prominent the obituary was, there would already be a book or documentary about him. But when I looked, there were only scattered references online and in books. Nothing tied his whole life together.
I thought about him for a long time and initially wanted to make an audio piece. I reached out to a friend of his mentioned in the obituary, who introduced me to other people, and that network kept expanding. At some point, I realized I was gathering the elements for a documentary. I started interviewing people and just kept going from there.
The film relies heavily on archival material. Can you talk about the process of gathering all that material and what it looked like for you?
I’m an archival producer and have been doing that work for about a decade, so it’s something I really love. In addition to the visual archival footage, all of the audio in the film is archival as well.
At one point, I met a woman who had a collection of tapes where Joe had narrated his entire life story to her. She had planned to write a book but never did. Those tapes completely changed the film, because they allowed him to narrate his own story.
The audio archive includes those tapes, along with recordings of his speeches and other material, all collaged together. That audio became the backbone of the film, and the visual archival material serves to illustrate and emotionally support what he’s saying.
Usually, my archival work involves very literal footage—news clips or one-to-one documentation. With this film, I wanted the visuals to evoke emotion so the audience could really listen. I was also surprised by how much archival material existed: news reports, photographs, articles. He was in the news frequently, which is striking given how few people know his name today.
Looking at your career, I can see a theme of you working on archival docs, but this feels especially personal. What connected you to Joe on an emotional level?
Rachael:
Everything on my IMDb prior to this is for-hire archival producing. This is my first feature. What drew me in emotionally was just how extraordinary his life was. It felt stranger than fiction.
He was eccentric and a genius. The idea that, as a child, he figured out how to hack the phone system by whistling is unbelievable. I tried to think back to what I was doing at that age, and it was nothing remotely that bold or inventive.
He was also very lonely as a child. The phone became a way for him to travel without physically traveling, and a way to connect with people. That really stayed with me.
When my grandmother was alive, she often avoided calling me because she worried about long-distance fees. After she passed, I found a piece of paper that had been hung in her room that listed various family and friends’ phone numbers. Next to my name and number was a note that said “NOT long distance.” I had to always remind her that just because I moved across the country, with cell phones it didn’t matter anymore. That sense of distance used to matter so much. How important was that historical context to the story?
It was hugely important. Long-distance calls used to cost money by the second. Being able to make those calls for free was revolutionary. Today, we take constant communication for granted—calling, texting, video chatting—but back then it was a big deal. That context is essential to understanding how radical Joe’s discoveries were.
What was your first phone?
We had a rotary phone in the basement, and it had an incredibly long cord. You could walk halfway across the room or even into another room and close the door for privacy. I loved that.
Later, we had cordless phones that would always get lost under couch cushions. You’d hit the button and listen for the beeping to find it. I feel like I lived through every era of phones—rotary, cordless, flip phones, T9 texting, BlackBerrys.
I’d love to hear about your Sundance experience as a debut feature filmmaker.
It’s been incredibly exciting and surreal. I’m honestly still in shock every day that I’m here. It’s fun and exhausting at the same time.
I’m really excited to watch the film with an audience that may know nothing about it beyond the logline—or may not even realize it’s a documentary. People often ask me who wrote it, and I have to explain that it’s a real person. I’m really looking forward to that moment of discovery and the feedback.
Can you talk about the phone line you created as part of the film’s outreach?
Joe hosted a number of outgoing message lines on his answering machine, including the “Zzzzyzzerrific Fun Line.” He would list it in the classifieds or white pages, and it was always the last entry in the phone book. People would stumble upon it almost by accident.
We wanted to do something similar, so we created a phone line where people can call to get information about the film, including showtimes. We’re also doing open audio descriptions for two screenings, which makes us the first film at Sundance to do that. There’s a pre-show audio description that explains what the film will be like.
We also included a bit of Joe’s original fun line, and I’m adding an option where people can leave a message or review. I really want to hear from people.
I appreciated that the film never leans into pity. You feel for him, but you don’t feel sorry for him.
That was very intentional. There are very few films where blind people tell their own stories. Once I found the tapes, it became essential to let him speak for himself. About 80 to 90 percent of the film is Joe narrating his own life.
We didn’t want to reinforce stereotypes about disability. He was just a person who lived an extraordinary life, and that’s the story we wanted to tell.
You must feel very close to him after spending so much time with his voice and story. What has that been like?
I do wish I could have met him, but many of his friends only knew him through the phone and never met him in person either. In that way, my relationship to him is similar to theirs.
He left behind so many recordings, and he speaks directly to people in them. These weren’t private diaries; they were meant to be shared. He was incredibly good at communicating and narrating his life. Through the phone, it all comes together.
Dial (350) FEE-LING to listen to his recordings, learn more about the film, or leave a message for the director and crew.
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