How else to explain how she crossed paths with six young brothers on a New York street who eventually turned out to have an incredible story – they had been locked away in a small apartment for years by a reclusive father.

Moselle is in Canberra and will tell the brothers' story in an award-winning documentary, The Wolfpack, screen at the Stronger Than Fiction film festival on Friday.

The six Angulo brothers grabbed Moselle's attention as they ran past her on a street five years ago. Almost without realising, she turned and ran after them, changing all their lives in an instant.

"I think that we were probably supposed to meet each other," she says. "I trust what's given to you and I just really pay attention to what comes across my life."

At first, Moselle and the brothers – Bhagavan, Govinda, Narayana, Mukunda, Krisna and Jagadisa– built a friendship based on their love of movies. She had no idea of their history.

But gradually little clues hinted at a childhood that was tinged with darkness.

"At first I found out they were home-schooled and my cousins were home-schooled so I thought maybe they were reclusive or whatever," she says. "Then they told me I was their first friend and that was definitely a shock because I realised they hadn't known anyone outside their household. And finally Mukunder told me he had to 'escape'."

The boys, now aged between 16 and 23, had been kept locked in the family apartment in New York for years by a domineering father who rejected the world – Moselle has described him as a "failed cult leader".

Isolated and rarely allowed outside, the Angulo brothers found refuge in movies, making their own little home movies and recreating scenes from their favourite films.

Over the course of four years, Moselle gently drew the whole story from the family – interviewing the brothers, their mother Susanne and father Oscar.

"It happened before my eyes and I didn't even realise it was happening until later on," she says.

The film won a big award at the Sundance Film Festival and Moselle and the brothers have been on a whirlwind ever since.

This is her first trip to Australia and she's looking forward to "hopefully meeting a kangaroo". On her bucket list, though, is meeting the much revered director Jane Campion.

"I really look up to her as a filmmaker and when I was studying art school we watched all her old films," she says.

Moselle says she wants to tell stories, whether factual or fictional, and her next project might involve stories that she's developed herself.

And she's still keeping her eyes open for whoever or whatever might next cross her path.

Crystal Moselle will talk about The Wolfpack at a special screening on Friday, July 31, at Palace Electric. See strongerthanfictiondocs.com.