Cult documentary will help provide resources for survivors

| Sunday Star Times | Joanne Naish |

Donations for a documentary on Australasia’s first cult awareness conference in Christchurch this year have reached more than half of the directors’ target in just two days.

Christchurch film-makers Robyn Jordaan and Caleb MacDonald are crowdfunding to create a documentary about the Decult 2024 Conference at Tūranga Central Library in October.

The conference will be a gathering of international cult experts, cult survivors, advocates and activists to raise awareness of cults and the harm they cause, and will cover groups such as Gloriavale, the Exclusive Brethren and Destiny Church.

Jordaan said the purpose of the documentary was to create a resource that could long outlive the conference.

The 20- to 30-minute film would include interviews with speakers including authors, educators, counsellors, academics and survivors sharing their expertise and personal stories, she said.

“It is our hope that audiences will view the short documentary and not only see how the conference came together, but also gain a deeper understanding of harmful dynamics in cult-like groups, how to prevent them, and how to support cult leavers better.”

Jordaan got involved after meeting Decult conference director Anke Richter and reading her book, Cult Trip, about coercion and high-control groups.

Jordaan and MacDonald filmed Richter in Thailand last year when she returned to do a talk on how to not start a cult, after investigating allegations of sexual abuse at Agama Yoga in Koh Phangan.

“I’ve always been really fascinated with that work and have some experience. Coming into my adulthood I joined a lot of spiritual groups and experienced maybe things that were slightly not quite right, but did not have the knowledge to know how to register or make the right call,” Jordaan said.

“Luckily I always kind of had a little bit of a scepticism in the back of my mind.”

MacDonald said the idea was to capitalise on the fact that all the experts and survivors would be in the same place at the same time.

He said it would not be a Netflix-esque documentary on cult leaders, but more of a resource that would be available for free to be used by many people to understand and be aware of coercive cults.

It would record the presentations but also include interviews with participants in a dedicated studio space.

Jordaan said they decided to crowdfund for the project to help the charitable trust behind the conference.

“Crowdfunding is such a great way to just instantly build community and traction. Everyone gets really behind it and can really feel a part of something,” she said.

The Boosted funding page has raised more than $3,500 so far.

“We’re at 50% now, and we’re only two days live, which is incredible. The first target is $7,000, but ideally, we’re hoping to reach our stretch goal of $12,000,” she said.

The funding goal would allow them to cover the costs of creating the documentary, with anything extra donated to the charitable trust to help fund the conference.

Richter said she created the conference because New Zealand had a cult problem.

“Many people are now asking what can be done about abusive places like Gloriavale that oppress and harm people, especially women and children, right under our nose – and why the Government isn’t doing anything about it,” she said.

The Decult conference’s aim was to get stakeholders in government and frontline services together so that these professionals get some cult education from victims and survivors of cults.

Richter said the documentary would be used as a resource which others could also learn from.

The conference will have six panels, 12 solo presentations and four plenary sessions with over 30 speakers including international experts like Dr Janja Lalich from the US, and Ulrike Schiesser, head of the Federal Agency for Cult Affairs in Vienna.

Richter recently spoke to 100 doctors at the Women in Surgery conference at Te Pae about how to spot coercive control and cultic abuse among their patients.

She said as well as Centrepoint and Gloriavale, many religious and spiritual offshoots and their gurus had set up in New Zealand, started communities or tried to avoid scrutiny or even prosecution in their own country.

“It’s not a niche topic. It affects tens of thousands of New Zealanders,” she said.

“People in cults didn’t chose to end up in there. No-one joins a cult, but a group that looks and feels great at first. Many of them were born into them and carry the trauma for the rest of their lives.

“We need to give them a voice.”