NZIFF 2022 Q&A: Noel Smyth and Fergus Grady of Gloriavale

Tell us about your 2022 Film festival film 

‘Gloriavale’ is a documentary about power, coercion and abuse that explores the dangers of religious indoctrination in a New Zealand cult. Captured through a verité lens and delving into rarely seen home video archive, the story starts with a man fighting to be reunited with his wife and children but soon expands into a much larger story as his sister and mother join the fight and turn to the legal system to make change. 

What inspired you to make this film? 

When we first heard about what was going on in Gloriavale, we couldn’t believe this was happening in New Zealand. The more digging that Fergus (co-director) and I did, the more unbelievable things got and the more determined we were to get the story out there. 

How has your filmmaking changed during these Covid-19 times? Often working remotely, the biggest change for me as a filmmaker navigating Covid-19 was learning to better communicate a vision (and finding ways to stick to that vision despite the huge amount of pressures that push and pull an idea into something different). Fortunately, we worked with some incredible people and were able to eventually pull it all together. 

What’s the moment you want your audience to remember most from your film? The moment I most want the audience to remember is a scene where we finally hear a secret recording of the Shepherds. It’s a scene that still makes me angry and I hope that the audience has a similar response and takes that anger with them out of the cinema. 

Aside from your own, what’s the one film that you reckon everyone should see at the festival? 

So many good films at this years festival but I’m most excited to see ‘The Territory’ (by Alex Pritz) and You Won't Be Alone (by Goran Stolevski). 

What’s the last film you saw and how was it? 

Not a new film but the last one that really stuck with me was a documentary called LA92 (directed by Daniel Lindsay and T. J. Martin). Amazing use of archive footage for an important story about systemic racism in The United States. 

What’s the film you wished you’d made, and why? 

Cartel Land (directed by Matthew Heineman) has always stood out for me as being a film I wish I’d made. Edge of your seat storytelling, complex characters, cinematic world building and amazing cinematography. Everything I want in a film.