Lance Bass is hoping his new documentary, "Kidnapped for Christ,"
will put the spotlight on unscrupulous boarding schools that abuse
children in the name of rehabilitating them.
"Kidnapped for Christ" debuted at the Slamdance Film Festival, an
alternative film festival running at the same time as the Sundance Film
Festival, last week. The film explores a Christian school in the
Dominican Republic where frustrated parents sent their children to shape
up. The documentary shows abuse the kids suffer, and controversial
behavior-modification methods, including attempting to convert gay
children to straight.
"I get a lot of things across my desk that I don't attach myself to,
but I saw the footage and was like 'Oh, my gosh,'" the former 'N Sync
member said. "My jaw dropped. I can't believe that this even existed,
and I knew I was called to do something."
Bass, the executive producer of the film, spoke about it at Sunday's
Human Rights Campaign party; the HRC is dedicated to advancing the
rights and causes of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.
Bass said the reaction to the film at Slamdance has been overwhelming.
"People have walked out because they are so mad that they actually had to walk out the theater," he said.
Bass is pushing for Congress to regulate these schools and raise
awareness of the issue. Besides the documentary, which does not yet have
a distributor, there is also the website for the film,
kidnappedforchrist.com.
"No one knows about it — and that's really scary to me. I didn't know
about it. I've heard of these places, but I really didn't think too
much about it," Bass said.
"The big thing is the awareness. We want people to know this is
happening, and, yes, some of these schools are good and they do good for
kids. But the majority of them are just abusing them, and all we want
is regulation."
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