What you need to know about the Scientology doc shocking Sundance

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, the latest documentary to dissect the Church of Scientology, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this week to a standing ovation.

It is the most recent attempt to shine a light on the secretive practices of the Church and is adapted from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright's 2013 book of the same name, which in turn originated from his 2011 article for the New Yorker.

HBO, which produced the documentary, reportedly hired 160 lawyers to look at the film before its release.

Here's what you need to know:

What is Going Clear about?

Directed by Alex Gibney, the Academy Award-winning director of 2007's Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron and We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, the film chronicles the history of Scientology, from its founding by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard (below) in 1954 to its stewardship under current leader David Miscavige, who took over in 1987.

Like the structure of the book, it focuses on eight people who broke away from the Scientology community.