This article contains spoilers for How To Become A Cult Leader episode 5.
How to Become a Cult Leader provides a terse, yet encouraging, look at some of the history’s most notorious cult leaders across history. Narrated by Peter Dinklage, the Netflix series offers “tips” on how to break into this growing field, offering six half-hour episodes of cautionary tales.
Episode 5 focuses on Shoko Asahara, leader of the meditation and yoga cult Aum Shinrikyo. On March 20, 1995, the group released plastic bags containing homemade sarin, a toxic nerve gas, on five subway lines of the Tokyo Metro during rush-hour. The gas killed 13 people and injured over 6,000. As the documentary points out, a second but failed attempt was made on the subways using Zyklon B, hydrogen cyanide. These weren’t the first casualties of the sect’s run.
Reverend Shoko Asahara was born Chizuo Matsumoto on March 2, 1955, in Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture.
How to Become a Cult Leader provides a terse, yet encouraging, look at some of the history’s most notorious cult leaders across history. Narrated by Peter Dinklage, the Netflix series offers “tips” on how to break into this growing field, offering six half-hour episodes of cautionary tales.
Episode 5 focuses on Shoko Asahara, leader of the meditation and yoga cult Aum Shinrikyo. On March 20, 1995, the group released plastic bags containing homemade sarin, a toxic nerve gas, on five subway lines of the Tokyo Metro during rush-hour. The gas killed 13 people and injured over 6,000. As the documentary points out, a second but failed attempt was made on the subways using Zyklon B, hydrogen cyanide. These weren’t the first casualties of the sect’s run.
Reverend Shoko Asahara was born Chizuo Matsumoto on March 2, 1955, in Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture.
- 8/3/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
The fifth episode, unlike the last four, is more about how a cult leader can cultivate a positive image of themselves among their followers. The leader tries too hard to build such an image because that is the only way to remain in power and relevant. How to Become a Cult Leader now discusses Shoko Asahara, the man who led the deadly cult of Aum Shinrikyo. Why did we call it deadly? Read to the end of the article to understand how the man went from a cult leader to someone willing to do anything to keep his image alive.
The episode begins with the narrator and experts talking about how Shoko Asahara, before he chose to be a cult leader, was a television personality, the owner of a bento box franchise, and had the inherent quality of being good at publicizing himself. Every cult leader out there is great...
The episode begins with the narrator and experts talking about how Shoko Asahara, before he chose to be a cult leader, was a television personality, the owner of a bento box franchise, and had the inherent quality of being good at publicizing himself. Every cult leader out there is great...
- 7/28/2023
- by Smriti Kannan
- Film Fugitives
Two years ago, Netflix began the How to Become family of satirical documentary series, which became hugely popular. The first of the many in the line was released in the year 2021 and was titled How to Become a Tyrant. The satirical humor laced documentary series helped people understand what was not right with the tyrants who ruled their countries with absolute power. The second installment of this Netflix Original documentary series is How to Become a Cult Leader, you can guess what the content of the show will be and who it is going to be about.
How to Become a Tyrant takes no time to jump into the nitty gritty of what happens behind the closed doors of so-called ‘cult leaders.’ The documentary covers in detail world-famous gurus, hypnotists, pastors, yoga teachers, and preachers, and each episode of the show is dedicated to one leader who ran a commune...
How to Become a Tyrant takes no time to jump into the nitty gritty of what happens behind the closed doors of so-called ‘cult leaders.’ The documentary covers in detail world-famous gurus, hypnotists, pastors, yoga teachers, and preachers, and each episode of the show is dedicated to one leader who ran a commune...
- 7/28/2023
- by Smriti Kannan
- Film Fugitives
Once you’ve spent six episodes snarking on the likes of Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, the idea of wringing wry laughter out of a few cult leaders must not seem intimidating.
At the same time, once you’ve spent six episodes snarking on the likes of Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, how much challenge is there in poking fun at colorfully outsize personalities and their devoted followers when they’ve already been the butt of jokes for, in some cases, generations?
Those two statements are, respectively, the principle behind and the primary limitation to Netflix’s new six-episode documentary-comedy How to Become a Cult Leader, a follow-up in tone, style and structure to 2021’s How to Become a Tyrant.
Boasting a common production team led by Jake Laufer, Jonas Bell Pasht and Jonah Bekhor, as well as the invaluable support of narrator and executive producer Peter Dinklage,...
At the same time, once you’ve spent six episodes snarking on the likes of Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler, how much challenge is there in poking fun at colorfully outsize personalities and their devoted followers when they’ve already been the butt of jokes for, in some cases, generations?
Those two statements are, respectively, the principle behind and the primary limitation to Netflix’s new six-episode documentary-comedy How to Become a Cult Leader, a follow-up in tone, style and structure to 2021’s How to Become a Tyrant.
Boasting a common production team led by Jake Laufer, Jonas Bell Pasht and Jonah Bekhor, as well as the invaluable support of narrator and executive producer Peter Dinklage,...
- 7/27/2023
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Trapped in Makyo” doesn’t waste any time in being forthright. Right from the get go, the documentary clears that it does not in any way, encourage the participation in, nor promote or provide any gray area about the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo. The cult was responsible for the terror attack which killed 14 and injured more than 6,000 people in Tokyo on March 20, 1995.
Trapped in Makyo is screening at the Sf Indiefest
This drawing of the lines and simple assertion of stance is both informative and instructive, especially when the subject in itself, a cult, could pique and tease the public’s curiosity. Filmmakers are only expected to trust the audience’s own discernment, but in an era where crimes and their perpetrators have been been humanized in some documentaries and miniseries to the point where the victims’ stories are dismissed and their loved ones are re-traumatized, this spelling out of...
Trapped in Makyo is screening at the Sf Indiefest
This drawing of the lines and simple assertion of stance is both informative and instructive, especially when the subject in itself, a cult, could pique and tease the public’s curiosity. Filmmakers are only expected to trust the audience’s own discernment, but in an era where crimes and their perpetrators have been been humanized in some documentaries and miniseries to the point where the victims’ stories are dismissed and their loved ones are re-traumatized, this spelling out of...
- 2/10/2023
- by Purple Romero
- AsianMoviePulse
There are few things more disappointing than a juicy subject with a dry documentary – like Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto’s “Aum: The Cult at the End of the World.” If one was to be generous, this could potentially be due to the duo’s relative prior inexperience. Despite Braun and Yanagimoto’s longstanding involvement in the film industry, “Aum” marks their first foray into the director’s chair. On one hand then, one could say that it is a laudable achievement that the documentary should be considered for Sundance’s prestigious US Documentary Competition. On the other, one could argue that it is all the more disheartening that their fresh eyes stick to the classic documentary script — which, for such a suggestive title, is a downright shame.
Aum: The Cult at the End of the World screened at Sundance Film Festival
“Aum: The Cult at the End of the World...
Aum: The Cult at the End of the World screened at Sundance Film Festival
“Aum: The Cult at the End of the World...
- 1/31/2023
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
Plot: A look at Japan’s infamous Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, run by Shoko Asahara, who claimed to be Buddha’s reincarnation.
Review: On March 20th, 1995, members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released deadly sarin gas into the Tokyo Metro system. Thirteen people were killed, and another fifty were injured. It’s still one of the worst domestic terrorist attacks in Japanese history. The nerve gas used, sarin, was first developed by the Nazis during WWII. How did it end up in the hands of a doomsday cult? Director Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto examine this in their terrifying documentary descent into madness, Aum: The Cult at the End of the World.
Like many in the west, I was only vaguely aware of the Tokyo subway attack, but I didn’t know the story behind it. Suffice it to say it’s quite the tale, with Braun and Yanagimoto examining...
Review: On March 20th, 1995, members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult released deadly sarin gas into the Tokyo Metro system. Thirteen people were killed, and another fifty were injured. It’s still one of the worst domestic terrorist attacks in Japanese history. The nerve gas used, sarin, was first developed by the Nazis during WWII. How did it end up in the hands of a doomsday cult? Director Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto examine this in their terrifying documentary descent into madness, Aum: The Cult at the End of the World.
Like many in the west, I was only vaguely aware of the Tokyo subway attack, but I didn’t know the story behind it. Suffice it to say it’s quite the tale, with Braun and Yanagimoto examining...
- 1/30/2023
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
The success of long-format cult-exposé documentaries like HBO’s “The Vow” and Netflix’s “Wild Wild Country” has given the cult-curious an appetite for the kind of chain-link explosion rhythms that only serials can supply. We’re primed, one might even say programmed, to expect the smallest new kink on even the oddest tangent to get ample screentime, and broader thematic arcs and major personalities to have multiple episodes over which to develop. Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto’s “Aum: The Cult At The End of The World” certainly acknowledges that there is a whole season’s worth of material in the story of the infamous cult, fully named Aum Shinrikyo, that murdered 14 people and injured 6,000 when they released sarin gas into the Tokyo subway in 1995. In trying to cram it all into one 106-minute package, however, the directors deliver a far-ranging but only fitfully revealing investigation into how Aum came into being and,...
- 1/26/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Aum: The Cult at the End of the World tells the lesser-known story behind the widely covered 1995 Tokyo subway attack, the largest act of domestic terrorism in Japan’s history where sarin gas was released in the Tokyo subway system during rush hour, killing 14 people.
Chiaki Yanagimoto and Ben Braun directed Aum, which takes a deep dive into Aum Shinrikyo, the doomsday cult behind the attack, founded by Shoko Asahara, a self-claimed yogi who said he was the reincarnation of Buddha. The doc, which draws from the book about the cult by investigative journalist David E. Kaplan and Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Marshall, is told through the testimonials of characters like Fumihiro Joyu, a former Aum devotee who skirted blame for the attack, and Marshall, a British journalist living in Japan who early on rang the alarm bells about the cult.
Braun — who is the son and the nephew of Dan and Josh Braun,...
Chiaki Yanagimoto and Ben Braun directed Aum, which takes a deep dive into Aum Shinrikyo, the doomsday cult behind the attack, founded by Shoko Asahara, a self-claimed yogi who said he was the reincarnation of Buddha. The doc, which draws from the book about the cult by investigative journalist David E. Kaplan and Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Marshall, is told through the testimonials of characters like Fumihiro Joyu, a former Aum devotee who skirted blame for the attack, and Marshall, a British journalist living in Japan who early on rang the alarm bells about the cult.
Braun — who is the son and the nephew of Dan and Josh Braun,...
- 1/22/2023
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A generally compelling story with obvious contemporary and global resonances gets an unfortunately dry and surface-level retelling in Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto’s Aum: The Cult at the End of the World, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.
The Cult at the End of the World still offers interesting details, especially at a moment when every other television documentary or docuseries seems to be cult-focused. But, especially in its homestretch, I felt like the film was awash in hastily defended conclusions and bad choices involving at least one key interview subject.
The film begins, in medias res, with the March 20, 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway, a horrifying event that left 13 people dead, thousands poisoned and — if you listen to several interview subjects and don’t require corroborating analysis — marked the conclusion of the Japanese economic resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s.
The attack was the final escalation for Aum Shinrikyo,...
The Cult at the End of the World still offers interesting details, especially at a moment when every other television documentary or docuseries seems to be cult-focused. But, especially in its homestretch, I felt like the film was awash in hastily defended conclusions and bad choices involving at least one key interview subject.
The film begins, in medias res, with the March 20, 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway, a horrifying event that left 13 people dead, thousands poisoned and — if you listen to several interview subjects and don’t require corroborating analysis — marked the conclusion of the Japanese economic resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s.
The attack was the final escalation for Aum Shinrikyo,...
- 1/21/2023
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It’s easy to understand why true-crime documentaries about cults have become so popular in a streaming age that depends on a constant stream of new (but reliable) content: Every one of these stories is different, and every one of these stories is also the same.
That double reality has seldom been more dramatic than it is in Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto’s “Aum: The Cult at the End of the World.” An American-Japanese collaboration that refracts the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway through local and global lenses at the same time, this well-sourced look back at the conditions that allowed for such a terrible act of bio-terrorism is flattened into an infinite hall of mirrors that shines a brighter light on the film’s own sub-genre than it does on the legacy of the Aum Shinrikyo cult itself.
Then again, it’s possible to see two...
That double reality has seldom been more dramatic than it is in Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto’s “Aum: The Cult at the End of the World.” An American-Japanese collaboration that refracts the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway through local and global lenses at the same time, this well-sourced look back at the conditions that allowed for such a terrible act of bio-terrorism is flattened into an infinite hall of mirrors that shines a brighter light on the film’s own sub-genre than it does on the legacy of the Aum Shinrikyo cult itself.
Then again, it’s possible to see two...
- 1/21/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
It would be inappropriate to call cults “entertaining” — they’re soul-sucking, exploitative enterprises that ruin people’s lives — but if you’re interested in learning about human behavior, particularly its extremes, there’s no denying that cults are fascinating. Not just because people can do, say, and believe outlandish things as a result of cult mind control, but because of the social conditions that lead people to join them in the first place.
“Aum: The Cult at the End of the World,” directed by newcomers Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto, certainly doesn’t shy away from its subject’s atrocities; in fact, it opens with their most infamous one. But where less adept filmmakers might have resorted to shock value or bone-dry moralizing, the team behind “Aum” works hard to understand one cult in all its dazzling, horrifying complexity.
To reel you in, “Aum” opens with the cult’s notorious...
“Aum: The Cult at the End of the World,” directed by newcomers Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto, certainly doesn’t shy away from its subject’s atrocities; in fact, it opens with their most infamous one. But where less adept filmmakers might have resorted to shock value or bone-dry moralizing, the team behind “Aum” works hard to understand one cult in all its dazzling, horrifying complexity.
To reel you in, “Aum” opens with the cult’s notorious...
- 1/21/2023
- by Lena Wilson
- The Wrap
After two years of virtual and hybrid event offerings, the Sundance Film Festival is set to celebrate the first fully in-person edition of the landmark fest when it rolls out next week in Park City, Utah. As ever, this year’s festival boasts a wide variety of new films from some of our favorite filmmakers, plus an assortment of rising stars, new talents to keep an eye on, and perhaps a few surprises.
This year’s program includes new films from Nicole Holofcener, Ira Sachs, Brandon Cronenberg, Sebastian Silva, Cory Finley, Justin Chon, Nicole Newnham, Maite Alberdi, Roger Ross Williams, Sophie Barthes, Lana Wilson, Davis Guggenheim, Rebecca Zlotowski, and Anton Corbijn.
Looking for big stars? Sundance has them, too, as notable actors at this year’s festival range include Jonathan Majors, Daisy Ridley, Sarah Snook, Ben Whishaw, Alexander Skarsgard, Mia Goth, Cynthia Erivo, Alia Shawkat, Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Emilia Jones,...
This year’s program includes new films from Nicole Holofcener, Ira Sachs, Brandon Cronenberg, Sebastian Silva, Cory Finley, Justin Chon, Nicole Newnham, Maite Alberdi, Roger Ross Williams, Sophie Barthes, Lana Wilson, Davis Guggenheim, Rebecca Zlotowski, and Anton Corbijn.
Looking for big stars? Sundance has them, too, as notable actors at this year’s festival range include Jonathan Majors, Daisy Ridley, Sarah Snook, Ben Whishaw, Alexander Skarsgard, Mia Goth, Cynthia Erivo, Alia Shawkat, Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Emilia Jones,...
- 1/11/2023
- by Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich and Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
After two years of virtual festivals, Sundance is overdue for a comeback. The Park City event is set to return to Park City on January 19 and continue through January 29. While films will still be available to online ticket holders starting January 24, the main emphasis will be the in-person experience that put Sundance on the map in the first place.
While the pandemic disrupted the film industry in 2020, Sundance managed to take place that year just before the shutdowns, launching future Best Picture winner “Coda” into an unpredictable landscape. Now, the market and culture of moviegoing remains in flux, and Sundance is poised to return to the scene just in time to launch a wide array of movies into that ever-changing climate.
And there are a lot of movies in contention. After countless productions were put on hold at the start of the pandemic, they’ve been revving back to action over the past year,...
While the pandemic disrupted the film industry in 2020, Sundance managed to take place that year just before the shutdowns, launching future Best Picture winner “Coda” into an unpredictable landscape. Now, the market and culture of moviegoing remains in flux, and Sundance is poised to return to the scene just in time to launch a wide array of movies into that ever-changing climate.
And there are a lot of movies in contention. After countless productions were put on hold at the start of the pandemic, they’ve been revving back to action over the past year,...
- 11/7/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The two men on the train are sharing a single set of earphones. “Good song, isn’t it?” says the more gregarious of the two. The quieter man smiles faintly and agrees, “It goes with the landscape.” They could be childhood friends reconnecting, or colleagues who get along despite their differences. But they are filmmaker Atsushi Sakahara, victim of the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attacks, and Hiroshi Araki, long-standing member of Aleph (formerly Aum Shinriko) the doomsday cult that carried them out. And their flickering but unmistakable connection forms the core of the desperately moving “Me and the Cult Leader,” a film made all the more heartbreaking because you can never be quite sure who your heart is breaking for.
In the decades since the attack — panicky amateur footage of which opens the film, as the soundtrack crackles with frantic police chatter — Sakahara has suffered from Ptsd and various physical impairments.
In the decades since the attack — panicky amateur footage of which opens the film, as the soundtrack crackles with frantic police chatter — Sakahara has suffered from Ptsd and various physical impairments.
- 4/28/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
スクロールダウンして、日本語の翻訳をご覧ください。. Translation by Lukasz Mankowski
Born in Tokyo. Tsuboi graduated from the Japan Institute of the Moving Image, then enrolled in the Department of Body Expression and Cinematic Arts at Rikkyo University. There, he worked on Makoto Shinozaki’s Sharing (2014), Wish We Were Here (2018) and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Journey to the Shore (2015). Sacrifice is Tsuboi’s feature debut and the first film to be produced with a scholarship from Rikkyo’s Department of Body Expression and Cinematic Arts.
On the occasion of Sacrifice screening at Japan Cuts, we speak with him about combining the Aum Incident with 3/11, hiding yourself in plain sight, the casting and the cinematography of the film, and other topics.
Why did you decide to combine the Aum Incident and 3/11 in your film? What do you feel was the impact of these two disasters on the Japanese people? Why did you decide to also include notions...
Born in Tokyo. Tsuboi graduated from the Japan Institute of the Moving Image, then enrolled in the Department of Body Expression and Cinematic Arts at Rikkyo University. There, he worked on Makoto Shinozaki’s Sharing (2014), Wish We Were Here (2018) and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Journey to the Shore (2015). Sacrifice is Tsuboi’s feature debut and the first film to be produced with a scholarship from Rikkyo’s Department of Body Expression and Cinematic Arts.
On the occasion of Sacrifice screening at Japan Cuts, we speak with him about combining the Aum Incident with 3/11, hiding yourself in plain sight, the casting and the cinematography of the film, and other topics.
Why did you decide to combine the Aum Incident and 3/11 in your film? What do you feel was the impact of these two disasters on the Japanese people? Why did you decide to also include notions...
- 8/13/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The 1995 Tokyo metro sarin gas terrorist attack by the cult Aum (currently Aleph) has been one of the most shattering events in Japan’s modern history, with its implications and consequences for the 6,000+ people that were injured still being very significant. Director Atsushi Sakahara was among the injured, suffered lifelong damage and post-traumatic stress disorder, and managed his recovery in a number of ways, including being rather vocal about the event, both to the press and through his podcast, “Before After Aum”.
For “Me and the Cult Leader”, Sakahara embarks on a trip around the country with Hiroshi Araki, who is in charge of PR for Aum/Aleph, asking all these questions anyone would like to ask, and even more that have resulted from his personal experience and his deep thoughts on the matter. The result is dramatic, shocking, but also extremely sincere. It is also worth mentioning that the...
For “Me and the Cult Leader”, Sakahara embarks on a trip around the country with Hiroshi Araki, who is in charge of PR for Aum/Aleph, asking all these questions anyone would like to ask, and even more that have resulted from his personal experience and his deep thoughts on the matter. The result is dramatic, shocking, but also extremely sincere. It is also worth mentioning that the...
- 6/21/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
On 20 March 1995, 12 people died, 50 were severely injured and over a thousand suffered other forms of trauma when deadly sarin nerve gas was released on the Tokyo underground. More than 200 members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult were subsequently arrested and 13 of them, including its guru, Shoko Asahara, who had apparently hoped that the attack would bring about the apocalypse and thus end the torment of karma, were executed. Others, bearing no clear responsibility for the crimes, were released back into the community, some after serving short prison sentences. Amongst these people was Hiroshi Araki, who is now one of the highest ranking members of the cult to remain at large.
In this documentary, survivor Atsushi Sakahara, who has suffered lasting health problems as a result of the attack, spends time with him, visiting places that are important to them both, talking, and trying to uncover...
In this documentary, survivor Atsushi Sakahara, who has suffered lasting health problems as a result of the attack, spends time with him, visiting places that are important to them both, talking, and trying to uncover...
- 6/18/2020
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Director Atsushi Sakahara’s Me and the Cult Leader will make its world premiere as part of Sheffield Doc/Festival’s Digital Edition. The documentary will debut as a Ghosts and Apparitions selection. The Festival runs until July 10. Me and the Cult Leader chronicles a doomsday cult’s attack on Tokyo’s subway system. It was the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in the postwar era. Sakahara was one of the victims. He comes to find he has unlikely company.
On March 20th, 1995, the Aum Shinrikyo cult executed a coordinated attack on five trains in the Tokyo subway system. The group released a toxic nerve gas on the Tokyo metro during rush-hour. The gas killed 13 people and injured over 6,000, including Sakahara. In his debut film, Me And The Cult Leader, he “embarks on a journey with the cult’s executive, Hiroshi Araki, to record the parallel experiences of a victim and perpetrator,...
On March 20th, 1995, the Aum Shinrikyo cult executed a coordinated attack on five trains in the Tokyo subway system. The group released a toxic nerve gas on the Tokyo metro during rush-hour. The gas killed 13 people and injured over 6,000, including Sakahara. In his debut film, Me And The Cult Leader, he “embarks on a journey with the cult’s executive, Hiroshi Araki, to record the parallel experiences of a victim and perpetrator,...
- 6/14/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
"Why does he still believe?" An official trailer has debuted out of the Sheffield Doc Fest taking place in the UK (online) this month for a film called Me and the Cult Leader, originally titled Aganai: The Cult Leader and Me. In 1995, Tokyo was attacked by a doomsday cult known as "Aum". They left packets of sarin gas on subway trains in the city. One of the people injured, Atsushi Sakahara, has decided to make a film about Aum and who they really are. Sakahara meets with and travels with Hiroshi Araki, an executive of Aleph (formerly Aum Shinrikyo), visiting their own hometowns and the university they both attended. Conversations unfold, building intimacy: we learn why Araki joined the infamous organization led by Shoko Asahara and why, still, Araki remains an executive member of the cult, even though he was not directly involved in any of the crimes. The beginning of a friendship,...
- 6/12/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Atsushi Sakahara, a survivor of the sarin gas attacks in Tokyo, unveils his documentary account of the Aum Shinrikyo cult and its continuing activities in “Me and the Cult Leader – A Modern Report on the Banality of Evil.” The film is expected to have its world premiere later this month at the U.K.’s digital Sheffield International Documentary Festival.
The film follows Sakahara, who has been outspoken over the years following his presence at and resulting injury from the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo metro system on March 20, 1995. The doomsday cult which perpetrated the attack is still active and recruiting. In the film Sakahara connects with a leading executive of the cult Hiroshi Araki, to record the parallel experiences of a victim and perpetrator. Araki’s life shares many parallels with Sakahara’s, and together they chronicle a moving portrait of humanity and reflection.
“Me And The Cult...
The film follows Sakahara, who has been outspoken over the years following his presence at and resulting injury from the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo metro system on March 20, 1995. The doomsday cult which perpetrated the attack is still active and recruiting. In the film Sakahara connects with a leading executive of the cult Hiroshi Araki, to record the parallel experiences of a victim and perpetrator. Araki’s life shares many parallels with Sakahara’s, and together they chronicle a moving portrait of humanity and reflection.
“Me And The Cult...
- 6/9/2020
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
On March 20th, 1995 Atsushi Sakahara was one of over 6,000 people injured in the attack on the Tokyo metro by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, who still operate and recruit today. In his upcoming documentary, “Aganai: The Cult Leader And Me” he embarks on a journey with the cult’s executive, Hiroshi Araki, to record the parallel experiences of a victim and perpetrator.
Now, on the anniversary of the tragic event, and amidst the current global climate and with the future of film festivals uncertain, Sakahara has pre-launched “Before / After Aum” to share a story of resilience with the world. He hosts the podcast that will cover post-war Japan, the rise of doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo and its leader Shoko Asahara, the events leading up to the attack, how the government has treated victims, and more. Today, both a teaser for the doc and a trailer for the podcast are released,...
Now, on the anniversary of the tragic event, and amidst the current global climate and with the future of film festivals uncertain, Sakahara has pre-launched “Before / After Aum” to share a story of resilience with the world. He hosts the podcast that will cover post-war Japan, the rise of doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo and its leader Shoko Asahara, the events leading up to the attack, how the government has treated victims, and more. Today, both a teaser for the doc and a trailer for the podcast are released,...
- 3/21/2020
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
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