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Satanic Panic

In response to the brand new documentary Satan Wants You, which will premiere at the Imagine Fantastic Film Festival this October, our panel discusses the so-called “satanic panic” in the 1980s and how it relates to contemporary moral panic about ritual child abuse.

In the 1980s, the bestseller Michelle Remembers spread rumors of ritual child abuse by a global satanic cult, which quickly spread throughout the United States and beyond. These turned out to be persistent conspiracy theories fueled by conservative Christian groups in the US. Our panel wonders how this history relates to contemporary conflicts such as Pizzagate or similar issues in the Netherlands? Writer and film journalist Julius Koetsier will talk to Assistant Professor of American Studies Sara Polak and media expert Marc Tuters.

To find tickets for a screening of Satan Wants You, go to Imagine Film Festival.

Over de sprekers

Sara Polak is university lecturer in American Studies at Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. Her work focuses on US presidents and their media, with a particular emphasis on play and new media. She has written FDR in American Memory (2021) and edited Trolling and Violence on Social Media (2020) and Embodying Contagion (2021). She is currently working on a book about how Trump played on and with Twitter.

Julius Koetsier (moderator) is the editor in chief of film magazine Schokkend Nieuws. He writes mostly about horror and cult films.

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