The Family

The Family (2016)

Inside one of Australia's most notorious cults

  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release Date: 2016-07-30
  • User Rating: 7.5/10 from 4 ratings
  • Runtime: 1h 38min
  • Language: English
  • Production Company: Dogwoof
  • Production Country: Australia, United States of America, United Kingdom
  • Director: Rosie Jones
star 7.5/10
From 4 Ratings

Trailer

Summary

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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  • Jordan Fraser-Trumble

    as Detective Lex De Man (young)
  • Anne Hamilton-Byrne

    as Herself (archive footage)
  • Bill Hamilton-Byrne

    as Himself (archive footage)
  • Lex De Man

    as Himself (interview)
Directing Rosie Jones Director
Sound Livia Ruzic Sound Designer
Production Anna Grieve Producer
Camera Jaems Grant Director of Photography
Production Anna Grieve Production Manager
Editing Jane Usher Editor
Sound Keith Thomas Sound Designer
Production Barbara Ghammashi Executive Producer
Writing Rosie Jones Writer
Editing Lex De Man Consulting Editor
Sound Mark Tarpey Sound Recordist
Production Aida Innocente Production Manager
Production Rosie Jones Co-Producer