Conspiracy Rising

Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? Conspiracy Rising explores why we are wired to believe these theories and how as a society it is imperative that we separate the fantasies from the real threats.

Combining remarkable, iconic archival footage and using the latest science and psychology to investigate the causes of conspiracy theories, Conspiracy Rising visits the sites behind the most notorious conspiracy theories and interviews leading conspiracy theorists and scientific experts.

Belief in conspiracy pervades our modern culture and proliferates in cyberspace with thousands of sites dedicated to theories behind the deaths of John F. Kennedy and Princess Diana, UFO’s, Area 51, and 9/11. Looking at these events and others, Conspiracy Rising reveals how our society’s distrust in government and other institutions has created a culture of doubt.  It examines the ways that fearful people find comfort in the order and explanations that conspiracy theories provide. Conspiracy Rising shows how conspiracy theories frequently discourage honest discourse, incite racism and persecution and, if unchecked, can threaten the most basic foundations of a democratic society.

Directed by Andy Blicq (Vietnam: Canada’s Shadow War, Slaves to Habit) and featuring outspoken US publisher of Skeptic Magazine, Dr. Michael Shermer, who uses scientific methods to question if there is truth behind the theories with his “Baloney Detection Kit" and British psychologist Patrick Leman who explains the social needs for conspiracy theorists’ beliefs, Conspiracy Rising takes a hard, penetrating look at the psycho-social and philosophical roots of conspiracy theories, examining who tends to believe in them and why.