Imagine Dragons Frontman Explores Mormon Treatment of LGBTQ Community in New HBO Doc Believer

HBO has struck the first deal of Sundance season, acquiring the U.S. TV rights to director Dan Argott’s new documentary Believer. The film follows Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons fame as he investigates the Mormon Church’s treatment of its LGBTQ members. Reynolds also explores the policies of the Church that purposely ostracize the marginalized sector of its congregation and how they relate to the rapid increase in teenage suicide rates in Utah over the past decade.

Reynolds, who is Mormon himself, hopes the film will provoke meaningful gay rights discussions within the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints on a larger scale. Believer should prove topical for the foreseeable future as the dialogue around LGBTQ rights only continues to grow, but, with the film premiering in Park City, Utah, it will hopefully push the increase in teen suicides affecting communities within the state itself to the forefront of public awareness.

The film is produced by Live Nation Productions and marks the company’s second deal with HBO following the release of Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis (Our Friends) in February 2017. The film will debut in the Documentary Premieres section of Sundance later this month before making its way to HBO next summer.