Our production team and music composers are all ex-Jehovah's Witness creatives who've come together to tell the stories of people from around the world who share an unlikely connection. Culturally, sexually, and racially diverse, they reveal their experiences leaving the religion and moving forward.

Our stretch goal: For every $1000 beyond our original goal of $9,000 we will add another national or cultural perspective to our project. Thank you so much for the support!

Click MEDIA to watch our latest short introductions of some of our interviewees to get an idea of what we are creating. There are now three new short videos!

The Jehovah’s Witness (JW) religion prints in 800 languages. Members exist in every country on Earth and number over 8 million. Over 100,000 men and women are forced out or choose to leave the religion every year. There are millions of ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses (exJW's) globally today; theirs are the stories of loss and redemption.



We are traveling around the world to capture the stories of a representative cross-section of this diverse group. The documentary series will delve into themes such as: why people leave the religion, how their lives have changed, their new personal philosophies and what now inspires them. We follow their transformations as they grow and find new, deeper meaning in their lives.



For some context here, the Jehovah’s Witness religion teaches that Armageddon is “Imminent,” that it could happen tomorrow and that if you’re not a member of the, “only true religion,” you will be destroyed forever, murdered by Jesus. Here's some iconic Jehovah's Witness imagery with their captions:



"Jesus Christ, God's chosen King,

will destroy this world at Armageddon"

"Jehovah will destroy the bad ones

who do not change"



Jehovah's Witnesses believe that if they interact with non-believers, especially ex-Jehovah's Witnesses, they risk being expelled from the church and denied entrance into paradise after they die. JW's isolate themselves from the rest of the world for this very reason, only interacting with non-believers with the agenda of making new converts.



Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses are completely isolated from communication with those they love. Jehovah’s Witness culture functions as a high-control group that requires absolute submission. Any person who disagrees with what is taught, or fails to follow the rules, is seen as dangerous and is immediately cut off by friends and family.



So, why should you support us in covering this topic? We have the dedication and the connections to capture and share these stories in a powerful and accessible way. Because of our personal backgrounds as former Jehovah's Witnesses, we also share a unique bond with our interviewees which helps them feel safe and understood. We know what questions to ask to get straight to the heart of the stories and explore the deeper themes of their experiences.



The creators:

Our storytellers are excited to finally be given a voice. We continue to be inspired by the strength of character and lifestyles of the exJW’s we meet along the way. Their stories need to be told.



We need your support to create this documentary series.



Some of our participants:

2,509 exJW’s (out of millions) have self-reported their locations on this map on Reddit:



We are dedicated to transcending sexual, racial, national and cultural boundaries in order to tell these stories in a dynamic and inclusive way. This involves networking abroad and going out into the world to do so.

Let’s make this together!



What you can do:

Follow | Share | Contribute

Free and easy things you can do

that will unlock amazing perks for us.

Follow us here on this page on Seed & Spark. 250 followers unlocks incredible perks, 500 followers unlocks even more perks and 1000 followers gets over $1000 of quality equipment. See details here:

seedandspark.com/rewards (valued at $9k)

Share this campaign page on social media and in your groups everywhere.

All of that costs you $0!

As part of the 100 Days of Optimism campaign we become eligible for $50,000 in grants and hundreds of thousands worth of marketing support from WeTransfer and $25,000 in investment from Bow and Arrow Entertainment for up to 3 winning documentary projects.

This requires GreenLight (80% funded) and at least 1000 followers.

Follow | Share | Contribute

Contribute in exchange for some creative incentives. We created a hilarious card game, a kick-ass soundtrack, a fun project credit page and more! Get in on the action with a small contribution starting at $10.



We want to get to know you.

Join us online for updates about this project and more at www.xjwdoc.com, on www.facebook.com/groups/xjwdoc, www.instagram.com/xjwdoc and www.twitter.com/xjwdoc.

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Contribute to create the first episode of this documentary series!

STRETCH GOALS

For every $1000 beyond our goal we get we will add another nation to this documentary project to capture even more global diversity told through more human lenses.



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