CHILDREN OF THE CULT
CHILDREN OF THE CULT is an international investigation into the Rajneesh movement. One of the world’s biggest and most successful cults, it had communes in more than 30 countries in the 70s and 80s and was immortalised in the Netflix series ‘Wild Wild Country’. But until now, a central truth about the organisation has remained hidden.
Filmmaker Maroesja Perizonius, herself a child of the communes, has connected with other former commune children and together, they’ve decided to change that.
Part retrospective, part unfolding investigation, this film tells the barely believable story of the treatment of children within the cult. Children who grew up in an environment where sex was everywhere, where they were separated from their parents and where there were no boundaries. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) built an entirely new society with its own moral code- where terrible crimes against children were facilitated and normalised.
The organisation still thrives today, profiting from Bhagwan’s teachings, yet no one has yet been called to account for the harm caused to children in its communes across the world. In the course of her unflinching investigation Maroesja unmasks perpetrators and demands answers from the closest members of the Cult’s inner circle.
Festivals
- Theatrical release UK & Ireland (Dartmouth Films) Oct 4, 2024
More info
" ..impassioned, courageous, focused and confrontational .." Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN *****
"... a must-see for anyone into vivid, Louis Theroux-esque investigative filmmaking." TimeOut
"The tone is exactly right, the issues stated frankly but without ever feeling inappropriately probing at the expense of the interviewees. Furthermore, any temptation to play up the drama when it is fully capable of speaking for itself is fully avoided." Mansel Stimpson, FilmReviewDaily ****
Synopsis
CHILDREN OF THE CULT is an international investigation into the Rajneesh movement. One of the world’s biggest and most successful cults, it had communes in more than 30 countries in the 70s and 80s and was immortalised in the Netflix series ‘Wild Wild Country’. But until now, a central truth about the organisation has remained hidden.
Filmmaker Maroesja Perizonius, herself a child of the communes, has connected with other former commune children and together, they’ve decided to change that.
Part retrospective, part unfolding investigation, this film tells the barely believable story of the treatment of children within the cult. Children who grew up in an environment where sex was everywhere, where they were separated from their parents and where there were no boundaries. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) built an entirely new society with its own moral code- where terrible crimes against children were facilitated and normalised.
The organisation still thrives today, profiting from Bhagwan’s teachings, yet no one has yet been called to account for the harm caused to children in its communes across the world. In the course of her unflinching investigation Maroesja unmasks perpetrators and demands answers from the closest members of the Cult’s inner circle.
Festivals
- Theatrical release UK & Ireland (Dartmouth Films) Oct 4, 2024
More info
" ..impassioned, courageous, focused and confrontational .." Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN *****
"... a must-see for anyone into vivid, Louis Theroux-esque investigative filmmaking." TimeOut
"The tone is exactly right, the issues stated frankly but without ever feeling inappropriately probing at the expense of the interviewees. Furthermore, any temptation to play up the drama when it is fully capable of speaking for itself is fully avoided." Mansel Stimpson, FilmReviewDaily ****