Genre
Synopsis
A MESSAGE FROM THE TEMPLE charts the rise, fall, and legacy of a provocative group of British artists in the early 1980s known as Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY). Members sought radical personal liberation through sex, magick, and rituals. Over the span of a decade, they grew into an organized global network whose power and influence ultimately incurred the wrath of the British establishment and led to their explosive downfall. Though many former members have gone on to achieve success and notoriety in art, culture, and government, the details of TOPY have remained shrouded in mystery. With unprecedented access to key members, voluminous archives, and renowned contemporary cultural figures, A MESSAGE FROM THE TEMPLE will finally bring the group’s sensational story to light.
Bio
Jacqueline Castel is an internationally award-winning director, screenwriter, and curator based in NYC. Castel's short form work has been featured at more than fifty festivals worldwide, including Sundance, SXSW, Rotterdam, Sitges, and Fantasia. She has written for and directed cult auteurs John Carpenter and Jim Jarmusch, and collaborated on a film with David Lynch for his Festival of Disruption in 2018. Her most recent short film released in 2021 is a portrait of Cannes award-winning actor Caleb Landry Jones. Castel’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The BBC, NOWNESS, VICE, Italian Vogue, Interview Magazine, and on AMC's Shudder. She is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is a triple citizen of the United States, France, and Canada.
Her feature film debut My Animal, world premiered in the Midnight section of the Sundance Film Festival in 2023 and will be distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Credits
Cast - Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
Cast - Alaura O'Dell
Cast - Timothy Leary
