For ‘Father’s House,’ Former Cult Members and Lauded Actors Collaborated to Explore Mechanisms of Control in a Cinematic Experiment

Father’s House is a hybrid documentary about Faderhuset, a Danish Christian sect that became a tightly controlled community shaped by faith, manipulation and abuse. Former members helped actors recreate events from the sect’s history, with the film combining those scenes with their memories and discussions of the process. The approach explores how influence can become control and what makes people believe, obey and seek belonging.

The film premieres on Monday in the Doc@PÖFF International Competition at Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. Trine Dyrholm plays the sect’s 1990s leader Ruth Evensen, later known as Ruth Kristiansen, while David Dencik portrays former member Jerry. Former member Camilla Johnson, who spent seven years in the sect before leaving and founding the NGO InsideOut, helped shape the project; the sect closed as a religious congregation in 2013, and the film is due in Danish cinemas on 19 November.