Holy Hell Trailer (2016)

Trailer for Holy Hell.

The Buddhafield began as a tight-knit group of young people devoted to spiritual growth and enlightenment. A family bonded by self-improvement, meditation and spontaneous play, they found guidance in a charismatic spiritual leader named Michel, who inspired reverence and adoration in his followers. Joining the group as a young man, director Will Allen would spend the next 20 years as its official documentarian, recording its devolution from a joyous commune into a cult of personality. Culling from a remarkable and extensive archive, Allen holds a magnifying glass up to the mind of a megalomaniac increasingly drunk on his own power, who was able to achieve unimaginable psychological control through a mix of hypnosis and New Age spirituality. This Sundance favourite is more than a penetrating exposé—it reveals how easy it is to fall under a spell in the search for enlightenment.