Dokumania /THE FAMILY

ROSIE JONES: THE FAMILY

Anne Hamilton-Byrne var smuk, karismatisk og overbevist om, at hun var en levende gud. I 1963 grundlagde hun sekten ”Familien”, som en blanding af kristendom, østens mystik og psykedeliske stoffer. Ved hjælp af adoptionssvindel og andre sektmedlemmer anskaffede hun sig et utal af børn og opdrog dem som sine egne efter overbevisning om, at de skulle redde verden efter en forestående 3. Verdenskrig. Efter en opdragelse med hjernevaskende motion, tæv, sult og indsprøjtninger med LSD blev de sidste børn reddet ud af sektens klør ved en dramatisk politirazzia i 1987. Men mange af dem lider stadig i dag under deres traumatiske barndom og kæmper for at leve et normalt liv efter hjernevask og misbrug. (Dokumania)

The Family (dansk titel: Sekten der stjal børn), Australien, 2016, 98 min. I TV2 Dokumania 7. marts 20:45 og efterfølgende på DR TV.

SYNOPSIS

Anne Hamilton-Byrne was beautiful, charismatic and delusional. She was also incredibly dangerous. Convinced she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, Hamilton-Byrne headed an apocalyptic sect called The Family, which was prominent in Melbourne from the 1960s through to the 1990s. With her husband Bill, she acquired numerous children – some through adoption scams, some born to cult members – and raised them as her own. Isolated from the outside world, the children were dressed in matching outfits, had identical dyed blonde hair, and were allegedly beaten, starved and injected with LSD. Taught that Hamilton-Byrne was both their mother and the messiah, the children were eventually rescued during a police raid in 1987, but their trauma had only just begun.

With survivors and cult members telling their stories alongside the Australian and international detectives who worked the case, this confronting feature documentary exposes not just what happened within the still-operating sect but also within the conservative Melbourne community that allowed The Family to flourish. (Official site)

http://www.thefamilysect.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_KeVkZ_JhM (Trailer)

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/20/growing-up-with-the-family-inside-anne-hamilton-byrnes-sinister-cult  (anmeldelse)

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Allan Berg Nielsen
Allan Berg Nielsen

Allan Berg Nielsen started the first documentary cinema in Randers, Denmark way back in the 1970’es. He did so at the museum, where he was employed. He got the (16mm) films from the collection of the National Film Board of Denmark (Statens Filmcentral). He organised a film festival in his home city, became a member of the Board of Directors of the Film Board, started to write about films in diverse magazines, were a juror at several festivals and wrote television critiques in the local newspaper. From 1998-2003 Allan Berg was documentary film consultant (commissioning editor) at The Danish Film Institute, a continuation of the Film Board. Since then free lance consultant in documentary matters.

abn@filmkommentaren.dk

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