British Columbia, 1976. Michelle Smith has a terrifying dream, in which hundreds of tiny spiders rush from a scratch on her arm. She consults Dr. Larry Pazder, and under hyp- nosis, begins to recall horrific events from her childhood — memories of debauchery, murder and human sacrifice long buried in the deepest recesses of her mind. Dr. Pazder records these sessions and the two co-author a book detailing Michelle’s therapy. The book soon becomes a bestseller, spurring a national conversation on the subject of satanic ritual abuse. Forty years on, Michelle Remembers will chart the rise of this moral panic, examining the elusive line between fact, fiction and the persuasive power of media. Tracing the phenomenon from its earliest rumblings to its devastating after- math, the film will delve into the recorded testimonies of those who claimed to have suffered ritual abuse, revisit the mental health conferences that fuelled the public’s anxiety, and observe how the panic made its way into popular culture. These complex threads will weave together a fascinating, disquieting portrait of the destructive na- ture of fear, the insidious power of media and the tragic fallibility of human memory.
Pia Borg
