Welcome
As the digital spigot opens ever wider, releasing a deluge of information, nonfiction filmmakers stand in the torrent, separating the "whys" from the "whats" and delivering the shading between the ones and zeros.
Yes, we know the gap between rich and poor is growing, but The Queen of Versailles beats any graph for its roller-coaster ride through American excess. We can see statistics on corruption in high places, but they come to life when we witness a diplomatic title being bought in The Ambassador. Maybe you huddled over a live Twitter feed from Tahrir Square last February, but 1/2 Revolution drops you squarely in the smoke and tear gas. And the national health-care debate is made corporeal and human in the masses that sit in The Waiting Room.
Films like these are the creation of artist/journalists, who, inspired by recent technological advances, are crafting deeply intimate works of nonfiction reportage. Others, like our True Vision honoree Victor Kossakovsky, are poets of the image whose creative current energizes viewers with never-before-seen visual data.
If True/False can be a conduit for these influencers, we can also be the machine that gathers and amplifies already-present sparks in our local community. Our True Life Fund taps into that fabled Midwestern generosity. A circus-punk bandleader has come to town to teach students how to fall out of step and lead the March March down Ninth Street. And several generations after Shirley Clarke came to Columbia, our scrappy, grassroots film scene is being noticed with works like The Pruitt-Igoe Myth (T/F 2011), Undefeated, and V/H/S.
It takes a supportive alliance of sponsors and film-world friends, a volunteer army, and a self-sacrificing core staff to pull all this off. Sometimes gears slip or jam, but the spirit of True/False is to find a hack and move forward. And when it works—when the electricity of the machine is carried from one node to another—it's a wondrous thing. Welcome to T/F weekend.
Under the influence,
Co-conspirators Paul Sturtz and David Wilson
The True/False Film Fest returns March 1-4, 2012 for its ninth edition. The festival highlights innovative work with a cinematic scope, creative takes on contemporary currents, and most of all work that provokes dialogue about its subject and the documentary form itself.
For four days, downtown Columbia, Missouri is transformed into a small-town Midwestern utopia. Most films come freshly discovered from Sundance, Toronto and other festivals, others appear mysteriously before their official premieres elsewhere. Sandwiched between the nonstop movies, we throw parties, host debates and field trips, and challenge local filmmakers to reimagine the possibilities of nonfiction filmmaking.
New for 2012! All festival theaters will be located in downtown Columbia, all within easy walking distance of one another. We're adding two new venues this year: Jesse Auditorium on the MU campus and The Picturehouse, located inside the Missouri United Methodist Church across the street from Shakespeare's Pizza. Returning venues include the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts, The Blue Note, the two-screen Ragtag Cinema, the Forrest Theater at the Tiger Ballroom, and the Globe Theater (at the First Presbyterian Church next door to Ragtag).
Passes are on sale now. You can also volunteer for the festival.