Doc Soup: Hot Docs' monthly screening series that presents Festival hits and award-winning docs.
For decades, the beautiful and charismatic Anne Hamilton-Byrne led an apocalyptic sect known as The Family. Like many cult leaders, she convinced her followers to relinquish their money, homes and marriages; but she also acquired many infants and young children, both through adoption scams and from her followers. Convinced she was their mother and the messiah, the children were kept in seclusion, beaten, starved and dosed with psychiatric drugs and LSD. They were rescued in a police raid in 1987, but Hamilton-Byrne was never captured or charged. With first-hand accounts from survivors, cult members and the detectives who worked the case, The Family investigates the lasting trauma of Australia’s most notorious sect.
Director Rosie Jones will participate in Skype Q&As at all screenings.