The story of New Vrindaban, a Hare Krishna commune in West Virginia that grew into one of America’s largest cults, has long been sensationalized for its lurid details of crime and internal corruption. But for brothers Abhay and Halavah, it is the world they were born into, and in Palace of Gold, they aim to show a more sensitive, nuanced side of their family’s reality. The brothers use humor and an affection for human foibles to chart a path from their parents’ original, lofty goals of spirituality to the problems that beset their community in its self-imposed isolation around a cult of personality. Through many unexpected twists, Abhay and Halavah reveal that the contemporary hunger for American alternatives to community continues to grow. – Jaie Laplante