Ghent Film Week: Prophet Town + Short
- Aug 24
- 3 min read
WEDNESDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER / 20:00 - 22.00
This screening session includes 1 short film + 1 feature film.
All films are in English and/or have English subtitles.
@ Velvet Room, Alpacastraat 29, 9000 Ghent, Belgium Entry is free and includes a drink!
The Ghent Film Week is often referred to as Europe's most obscure film festival. An island oasis for art amidst a sea of commercialism. Sure, it's modest in form, as we mainly focus on screening films and less on the glitter and glamour. The festival focuses on contemporary cinema and video art and places its films where they belong – within the vibrant context of other art forms.
Tulipomania: I've Been Told (United States) by Cheryl Gelover, Tom Murray
Philadelphia-based art-rock duo Tulipomania are back with 'I've Been Told - Absolution', the first offering from their sixth album 'Absolution', inspired by an invitation from acclaimed author Jeff VanderMeer to contribute music as part of the publication of his latest novel 'Absolution', the surprise fourth volume in his award-winning 'Southern Reach' series
Running time: 00:03:35
Prophet Town (United States) by Dan Howlett
This is the full and final story of Warren Jeffs, the largest child grooming ring in US history and his devoted followers who took their town back and destroyed his legacy. By weaving the shocking backstory of the Shortcreek community and the ritualistic abuse suffered by nearly all the residents with the forward narrative of the first-ever democratic election in the area we discover what happened to break this community of 10,000 and what is being done to fix it.
What is surprising about the Warren Jeffs story is how little has been covered despite the number of broadcast hours devoted to it. His heinous sex crimes against children have been well documented but the story of the Crick and the systematic abuse of the 10,000 people whose lives he destroyed is still waiting to be told. In America’s heartland there is a functioning theocratic dictatorship where the people are subjected to routine, torturous abuse because of one man’s decisions. Children are married and abused, families are separated and a terrifying doomsday prophesy is preached. Jeffs’ control of political and power structures within the town is absolute because of his control of a religious trust that owns all of the land and property in the area. This gives him the power to send away anybody deemed a threat. If he wants a new wife, he sends her husband away; if a boy is coming of age and there is a shortage of wives they are exiled and forbidden from seeing their families again. He enforces his will by making his followers believe he can see everything they are doing and thinking. This is made believable because of the intricate spy systems he has set up within families. Mothers and wives spy on their husbands and brothers while they spy on them in return. Everybody reports to the Prophet. What was once a community filled with love and affection has become a dystopian nightmare of 1984 proportions which Donia wants to destroy.
Her electoral campaign provides a forward narrative that has never been featured in an FLDS/Warren Jeffs documentary. We don’t document the crimes of Jeffs in a spurious, sensationalist way, we document the determination and fortitude of a woman fighting against the most entrenched misogynistic social structures in America to take on a powerful prophet, his church and everything she formally held dear.
We also have an alternative perspective on Donia’s campaign as those who have remained loyal to Jeffs have granted us unprecedented access into their lives. We follow FLDS members Lori Barlow, Norma Richter, Esther Blistline and her daughter Angela as they fight for their town, their beliefs and their homes against the influx of returning apostates like Donia. This documentary feel like the full and final chapter in a century long story of polygamy, prophecy and power.
Running time: 01:28:27
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