Monday 7 November
10am and 6:30pm
Directors: Fergus Grady, Noel Smyth
Documentary
New Zealand
89 mins
GLORIAVALE is an observational documentary examining the widespread abuse inside the infamous Gloriavale Christian Community cult and the institutional failures that have allowed it to continue. Exploring the secretive community through never-before-seen home video footage, the filmmakers follow the Ready family as they mount a ground-breaking legal case against the cult’s powerful leaders. Long associated with allegations of sexual and physical abuse, human rights violations and fraud, the true extent of Gloriavale’s crimes is exposed as the Ready family risk losing their home, their community and those they love for a chance to bring positive change to Gloriavale.
Producer and director Fergus Grady will introduce the film and be available for questions after the screening. Fergus has over fifteen years’ experience in the film industry. His debut feature documentary Camino Skies was the second highest grossing NZ documentary of 2019 and won the Doc Edge Film Festival awards for ‘Best NZ Directors’ and ‘Best NZ Emerging Filmmakers’. He also associate produced West of Sunshine which competed for the Orizzonti section at the Venice Film Festival.
A beautifully crafted film that reveals the shocking truths about life at Gloriavale, and the impact on those who were part of it. – Francesca Rudkin, Newstalk ZB
Lifting the veil on ‘New Zealand’s secret cult’ and its fall from utopian ideal to Animal Farm-esque nightmare, this enlightening, heartrending, rage-inducing documentary follows former members as they battle for justice and reform from the outside. An excellent, powerful primer on the history, controversy and concern surrounding Gloriavale. – James Croot, Stuff.co.n