Guest Curation at Anthology Film Archives

Co-Presented with Genevieve Havemeyer-King

at Anthology Film Archives, NYC

 

JACQUELINE CASTEL PRESENTS

SATANIC PANIC: CULTURAL WARFARE IN THE 1980s 

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For this special event, filmmaker Jacqueline Castel will present a rare selection of international programming tracing the bloodlines of the paranoia-soaked decade obsessed with the Devil. From conspiratorial fears of diabolical children's propaganda saturating the mass media, to Satanic law enforcement guides, deprogramming agents, and exorcism therapy, to the more serious allegations and trials of ritual crime, cult-based abuse, and the censorship crusades of the PMRC, these ephemeral works reveal the inner mechanics of a contemporary witch trial. What emerges through these cultural artifacts  which are hysterical and horrific in equal measure   is a controversial war on the freedom of expression that not only proved profitable, but also attempted to erode the personal, spiritual, sexual, and political rights of a generation.

Informed by her work on the forthcoming documentary A MESSAGE FROM THE TEMPLE, Castel's program will also feature rare clips related to transgressive artist collective Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth, an organization raided and later exiled from England under false pretenses of Ritual Satanic Abuse claims.

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FILMMAKER INTRODUCTION 

SECRET RITES, INVOCATION OF MY DEMON BROTHER, & THE WORMWOOD STAR 

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Filmmaker introduction to Secret Rites (dir. Derek Ford, 1971), Invocation of My Demon Brother (dir. Kenneth Anger 1969),

and The Wormwood Star (dir. Curtis Harrington, 1956)

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