I have been actively working on documentaries for about nine years and have had a life long passion working with cameras starting with a Canon AE-1 as a teen. Our photo and film departments in high school were on par with university. I've had incredible access to great equipment and creative freedom since I was 16.

I was raised on the fringes of the Jehovah's Witness culture as my father joined the religion when he was about thirty and I was six. I was coerced into baptism as a teenager like most in the religion. I realized I didn't believe what the religion taught and left at 19 but got dragged back into it by my father for family and cultural reasons. I gave this faith a proper go for a few more years in my early twenties, unofficially volunteering as a part-time minister (50 hours per month), before and during university, well beyond any dedication my immediate family had ever made (grandparents, father and four siblings). After photography school I moved to Ecuador to see first hand how the religion operated internationally. That was truly a life changing experience and where I began to deeply question their methods of preaching abroad. It's a gross form of cultrural colonialism.

Witnessing first hand how they operate in developing nations, is what I've come to view as "cultural imperialism". They have a serious superiority complex and do not treat the locals with much respect for example: opting for a white 18 year old from England as elder over a local in his 30s or 40s who'd been knocking on doors in his childhood town for many years, risking his life long reputation for this cult. Experiencing that first hand was ultimately what lead me to walk away from the religion...that of course on top of a long list of nonsense that they teach and use to manipulate and coerce members into compliance through social control.

After Ecuador I exited the religion permanently. I had made some close friends in the religion, many of whom have since come out as well. Together some of these creative people and I are working on this project to give a voice to silenced former Jehovah's Witnesses.

Minneapolis band with one ExJW member, vocalis and songwriter: Chad Rhiger.

Some songs really hit close to home including, "Stay Away, Stand Firm, Grow Mighty

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Album: Sleepywood Dojo

Ryan Sutter is a Minneapolis based artist. He's the key subject of Witness Underground and has been a huge ally in the creation of our film.

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