From the Series
Part of the event
Directed by Crystal Moselle, The Wolfpack is a stranger-than-fiction documentary film about the Angulo family’s family's seven children. The six brothers, named Mukunda, Narayana, Govinda, Bhagavan, Krisna and Jagadesh, and their sister Visnu were all raised and locked away in an apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
The family was locked away by their Hare Krishna extremist father for fourteen years and was so reclusive that many neighbours in their block didn’t know they existed. “Once we didn’t leave the apartment for a whole year,” says Govinda.
All the knowledge of the outside world that the Angulo children had was gleaned from the films they watched obsessively and recreated meticulously, using elaborate homemade props and costumes such as a Batman costume made entirely of cereal boxes and a yoga mat. “In a way, we were imprisoned,” says Govinda, “but we were always free to use our imaginations.”
Their imprisonment came to an abrupt end in April 2010 when Mukunda, then 15, managed to get out of the apartment and walk the streets wearing a mask inspired by Halloween’s Michael Myers.
First-time director Moselle was granted complete access to the family's apartment and a trove of recorded home performances. The Wolfpack scooped a 2015 Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize Win.
*This film will be screened at the Design Indaba FilmFest 2016 in Cape Town as part of the Design Indaba Festival. The FilmFest will take place at the various locations across the country. Watch out for our programme for more information and tickets.
