Doomsday Doc ME AND THE CULT LEADER: First Trailer, Poster

Set to enjoy its world premiere at the upcoming Sheffield Doc/Fest, Me and the Cult Leader tells the story of the 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo from the point of view of one of its victims. But the documentary promises to do more than that.

Sakahara Atsushi "was one of over 6,000 people injured in the attack on the Tokyo metro by the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which still operates and recruits today," according to the official synopsis. "In his debut film, the documentary Me and the Cult Leader, Sakahara embarks on a journey with the cult's executive, Hiroshi Araki, to record the parallel experiences of a victim and perpetrator."

What does the documentary reveal? The synopsis continues: "The two men are around the same age, grew up in the same region, and attended the same university, but their lives diverged dramatically in the late 80s as Hiroshi Araki joined the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo following a family illness and Atsushi Sakahara found himself a job in downtown Tokyo.

"Twenty-five years after the terrorist attack by Aum Shinrikyo on the Tokyo metro system, the two men find themselves on opposite sides of the largest act of domestic terrorism in Japan, trying to understand each other as they travel back to their hometowns."

Sheffield Doc/Fest's Digital Edition will run from June 10 - July 10. More information on the film and the festival is available at the official site. The thoughtful trailer can be watched below.