Do cults ever end well? Promising kinship and spiritual satisfaction, guru-led groups prey on lost souls and those desperate for belonging and reasons to believe. Will Allen was one of those guys. A recent film-school graduate, in the mid 1980s he joined Buddhafield (a secretive California mystical community led by a mysterious, charismatic South American), and became its official documentarian. His full-access footage became the stock of Holy Hell, an exploration into megalomania and cult-world abuse. (Bloor Hot Docs)
There will be blood. A one-night screening showcases the costumed rockers KISS on stage in Las Vegas, where Gene Simmons and company dress to kill, shout it out loud and rock and roll all night at the Hard Rock Hotel. (Select Cineplex theatres, May 25)
Now in its eighth year, an annual schedule of inspiring sport-related films opens with Fighting for Peace, a documentary that profiles two young boxers who look to escape the hard life of Rio de Janeiro, the city that hosts the 2016 Summer Olympics. (May 20 to 22, TIFF Bell Lightbox).
Brad Wheeler