THE SECT

A documentary series by Bruno Joucla

DOCUMENTARY / 4x35' / SALTO / 2022

Synopsis

In the ’90s, a series of mass murders and collective suicides in France, Switzerland and Canada, reveals the existence of the Solar Temple Community, also known as OTS. Convinced of an imminent apocalypse, 74 persons are said to have committed suicide between 1994 and 1997 in mystical and macabre circumstances. How did these followers, for the most part educated and influent, allowed themselves to be dragged down to such atrocious deaths? Did they act consciously? Were they under the influence of their guru? Or were they brutally murdered?

SYNOPSIS / episode 1: the dread

On the night of October 5, 1994, 23 people were found dead in a fire in an isolated farmhouse in a Swiss village. At the same time, a hundred kilometers away, the fire claimed another 25 lives. The profile of the victims leads the investigators on the trail of an apocalyptic Templar sect called OTS.

SYNOPSIS / episode 2: the grip

A year later, and despite the death of the gurus, in 1995, sixteen new followers were again killed in the Vercors massif. How did these individuals, most of them well-educated and influential, allow themselves to be drawn into a years-long slow drift towards such a violent death?

SYNOPSIS / episode 3: the downfall

In full expansion, with hundreds of followers, as well as conferences, sanctuaries and ever-increasing real estate holdings, the OTS is setting out to conquer new territories internationally, but in Canada and Martinique the sect’s armor is cracking.

SYNOPSIS / episode 4: the grief

The gurus precipitated the end of the OTS and the power of their indoctrination led to the deaths of 74 people. The phenomenon of “emprise” is difficult to prove in court, but the families of the victims refuse to accept the consent of their loved ones.

Credits

Directing : Bruno Joucla
Screenplay : Bruno Joucla, Sarah Oultaf, Gautier Renault
Photography : Thibault Delavigne, Cyril Thépenier
Editing : Adrien Dominique-Dreyfuss, Bruno Joucla
Documentation : Debbie Ford
Original Score : Baptiste Charvet
Colour Grading : Isabelle Laclau
Mix : Philippe Charriot
Graphic Design : Mathieu Decarli, Olivier Marquézy
Production : What’s Up Films
Partners :

In coproduction with Salto
Distributed by Federation Entertainement