words: Jay Riggio photos: Reynard Li
Though I will forever be aware of the hypocrisy and profound double standards that existed within my own Catholic school upbringing, it is still difficult to fathom that some religious teachings throughout history were not only based on ridiculous, subjective fabrications–they were downright criminal. The Children of God, a cult later to be called the Family, was founded in 1968 by David Berg. His teachings encouraged bizarre sexual behavior that included incest and pedophilia. In time, ex-members of the Family, including Berg’s own children, made allegations of widespread sexual abuse public. Noah Thomson, director of the new HBO documentary, Children Of God: Lost and Found, actually grew up in the cult before leaving at age 21. This shocking and heartfelt film follows Noah, now 30, as he explores the pain that continues to linger throughout the lives of the Family’s forgotten victims.
When did you start making this film?
I’ve been kind of making this film for the last seven years. But over the last two or three years, I started working with HBO and some veteran filmmakers, and that’s when we started to make visible progress on the film. It’s really a life journey film.
How did you go about tracking down ex-members, considering the Family is worldwide?
I got a camera for a couple days and I put the word out there to a couple people that I knew in California, ex-members. And in under 24 hours, I got like 10 calls back from different members that just heard that I was trying to do this. They’re like, “I have something to say and I’ll meet you wherever you are to share my testimony.” But when word got out I was doing this, the Family started to discourage people quite heavily from speaking. Even though most of the kids I interviewed were no longer in the Family, their parents still were. By speaking out, they could completely alienate themselves from any sort of communication with their parents. It starts to get a little bit trippier and harder to do.
What kind of reaction have you gotten? I mean, obviously you’re going to have a bunch of opposition from people in the Family.
Yeah, when we premiered in Park City at the Sundance Festival, some current members of the Family, some first-generation and second-generation people showed up and pretty much protested, and created quite a scene. The police had to intervene and calm the situation. I would have preferred that they didn’t come there and completely dismiss the entire film. But on the other hand, I think they’re entitled to their own opinion. And I think that a lot of the second-generation kids that are still in the Family, in time, will see this film and be in opposition to its message, but that’s probably for the most part because they were too young or not even born at the time that these abuses did happen. This film is a voice for the people that fell between the cracks of the Family. This is about the kids that were abused. That was the mission of the film.
