Will Allen(XXIII)

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Just out of college, a young filmmaker joins a loving, secretive, and spiritual community led by a charismatic teacher in 1980s West Hollywood. Twenty years later, the group is shockingly torn apart. Told through over two decades of the filmmakers archival materials, this is their story.

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Will Allen started making films at the age of 12 in southern California. He graduated from Southern Methodist University in Texas with his film degree. Shortly after college, he ended up living in a guru-based society for two decades, where he continuously created films about the secret world in which he lived. After finally extricating himself at the age of 44, he decided to use his archives of film footage to tell the complicated 20-year tale of Holy Hell (2016).

Allen's experience is in both directing and editing, which lends a unique vision and storytelling sensibility to his work. His strengths lie in telling personal, complex narratives in an emotionally compelling way. William is an advocate for personal freedom, dedicating his time to education, prevention, and self-empowerment. Will currently lives in Santa Monica, CA.

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Awards
- 2 wins & 3 nominations

Alternative names
- William Francesco Allen

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[May of 2016, interview with Esquire Magazine, on his documentary, "Holy Hell", and how Michel/Jaime Gomez came to possess such power as the cult leader of Buddhafield]

You don't see it that way. I never thought, "I'm going to join a group and give my power to someone." But there is a social proof that happens. And there is this groupthink that goes on. There's a wave of agreement, because we're all agreeing to do it. A lot of the principles of the East vs. West that we were doing-surrendering to the guru, dropping your ego, taking your shoes off before you walk into a room and leave the world behind-we didn't think of it as giving our power, we thought of it as empowering. And he also had a relationship with each one of us individually. He ended up getting everyone's power individually, one at a time.