The Family (2016) [N/A]

Release Date:
July 30, 2016

Original Title:
The Family

Alternate Titles:
Barnhemssekten
The Cult That Stole Children: Inside the Family
The family : une secte australienne

Genres:
Documentary

Production Companies:
BBC
Big Stories
Dogwoof
Film Victoria
Screen Australia

Production Countries:
Australia | United Kingdom | United States of America

Ratings / Certifications:
AU: M 

Runtime: 98

Inside one of Australia's most notorious cults

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.

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Co-Producer:
Rosie Jones

Consulting Editor:
Lex De Man

Director:
Rosie Jones

Director of Photography:
Jaems Grant

Editor:
Jane Usher

Executive Producer:
Barbara Ghammashi

Producer:
Anna Grieve

Production Manager:
Anna Grieve
Aida Innocente

Sound Designer:
Keith Thomas
Livia Ruzic

Sound Recordist:
Mark Tarpey

Writer:
Rosie Jones

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