Posted by: Stephen Saban contact

Child's Play

What we posted the other day, Page Six and Cinematical via Variety report today: that members of the Children of God cult, now called The Family, infiltrated the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in an attempt to do damage control while Noah Thomson's terrific documentary about the evangelical Christian group, Children of God: Lost & Found, was being screened. A cult member was caught secretly taping a post-screening Q&A, and fled the theater with the film's producers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato in hot pursuit. Police got involved.

"The filmmakers say some members of the cult, accused of advocating indiscriminate sex, want to discredit the film," says Page Six, and on the cult's pretty website, The Prophet Bus, blogged from Park City, they mention talking to "a group of documentary producers who use the art of editing to distort the truth." And the caption to the photo here of a group member walking alongside Fenton Bailey is "Devon on Main St, telling a filmmaker about God's love. Unfortunately, not everyone was receptive to the truth." The truth is, though, that all this brouhaha can only increase interest in the film. And has.