The True/False Blog

Somehow the Maine contingent, led by the Space Gallery's Jon Courtney, gets bigger and bigger with each year. Little known fact: I only wore Space Gallery T-shirts on T/F weekend, a silent homage to our Maine friends, who quite simply "get" the festival as much as anyone. Check out this lovely link: http://www.bavc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2098&Itemid=1094

This was an admirable collaboration between Arable Entertainment and director Nathan Truesdell, inspired by this year's poster. It played something like 100 times at the fest, so it's singed in many of our brains. In a good way.

Check it out: http://ow.ly/1dWhI

Some highlights from Dylan Conn, a high school student from Chicago who volunteered at the Missouri Theatre: 1. Returning to Columbia and spending nearly the entire time downtown with my favorite friends.
2. Walking into "The British in Bed" at The Forrest Theatre - behind the directors who were speaking, knowing nothing about a marriage proposal that had just occurred.
3. David telling us we had the smoothest filling of the Missouri Theatre ever - only to have our house manager tell us a few minutes later that the projector wasn't working.
4. Bonding with fellow volunteers as we sorted and counted ticket stubs. With a 10-gallon bucket of sweet potato chips.
5. Going to sleep at 4 AM, only to wake up four hours later and see five films that day.
6. A lingering desire to try and light my tap water on fire after seeing "GasLand."
7. "Gimme horse noises, gimme furry animals with antlers and a lisp, gimme mooth, gimme gimme gimme truth."
8. Watching the March March pass by from inside the Missouri Theatre.
9. Two standing ovations in a row - for two entirely different films.
10. Interacting with fest-goers. Those who thanked me and those who argued with me.
11. Walking through the extra-busy streets of downtown Columbia and seeing passes around the necks of most others.
12. Asking the director of "Last Train Home" for his ticket before realizing who he was.
13. Standing for the duration of "The Invention of Dr. NakaMats." I couldn't NOT get into a film!
14. Finally going to the volunteer party at Spectrum Studios!
15. Returning to Chicago and telling everyone about the fantastic time I had at the best film festival there is!

http://www.twitter.com/dylanconn

So many images to process, so many good feelings to fuel the next many weeks...We all have our own -- if you would, please email yours to paul@truefalse.org.

For me, a list would start like this: 1. Troubador Robert Sarazin Blake singing an off-the-cuff epic ballad off-mic in front of a sell-out closing night film, summarizing a joyful and triumphant ballad 2. Two of the guys from Restrepo, Mace and Rudy, driving all night from Forts Campbell and Carson to be at the Sunday screening. Just showing up and saying "We're from Restrepo." Then doing an amazing Q&A with co-director Tim Hetherington on Ichat, looming over their heads on the Missouri Theatre screen. 3. A huddle of filmmakers and other festival guests huddling together at the Blue Note bar, downing multiple tequila shots, being egged on by some citrus pushers 4. Adam Curtis and Sam Green finally meeting each other and talking about the future of narration, progress, journalism and so much more 5. Hema, a local Indian group, sitting cross-legged, making beautiful music at the Forrest Theatre 6. Prahlad, a local English professor, playing the mbira from Zimbabwe before a screening of "On the Other Side of Life" 7. "It Felt Like a Kiss" at the Oddfellows Temple, the first screening there ever, and maybe even the first non-Oddfellows event ever. Technically, a debacle, but what an amazingly rich one. 8. The singalong before the "Invention of Dr. Nakamats" at the Blue Note 9. Mary Jane Edele, our hospitality coordinator, being brought to life after an incredibly stressful weekend with a tribute by Lixin Fan, the director of "Last Train Home" from the Missouri Theatre stage. 10. Walking and spinning into the sunset at the March March, trying to forget about weather-related delays at Laguardia 11. Raya, the Balkan brass band, serenading me with a fantastic song, at the corner of 10th and Broadway right outside the fish shack at the warmest moment of the weekend. 12. Max and Sabrina, proud as can be, after watching 17 movies (?!) in a weekend 13. Seeing my Irish friend Morag Tinto, with her big, broad smile 14. Jamming another row of chairs into The Hive to see "When We Were Boys" just as Malone tossed dozens of their CDs into the packed audience 15. Josh Fox and Emily Verellen back-stage after a phenomenal screening of "GasLand" at the Missouri Theatre 16. Bramble on the street corner, clapping and harmonizing on a cold morning before the box office opened 17. David Friessen, proudly patrolling the hallway at the Chapel, saying "What a great venue!" 18. The core staff taking their richly deserved bows at the end of the weekend 19. The smiles, so many smiles walking by strangers on the street 20. Gimme Truth, as always. Host Johnny St. John tearing into the contestants, one after another 21. Young Chase and Eric holding their own on the Film Forward panel 22. Filip Celander and James Bond driving all night Friday to Chicago to retrieve an HD projector after the Missouri Theatre's projector went kerplow, arriving back in the morning after 13 hours. 23. Walking through the streets late on Sunday, my body aching and immobilized, but still feeling great.

Please send us yours for our scrapbooks -- would love to hear more.

True/False 2010 Closing Night Video from Boxcar Films on Vimeo.

Can you believe that Brock Williams and Jonny Pez and the rest of Boxcar Films could do an instant summary of the festival ready in time by the closing night film? I don't get how they did this. Boxcar is another good reason to love Columbia.

See: http://www.boxcarfilms.com/archives/395

Only a few hours remain of the festival, and the afterglow is positively radioactive. Columbia, you are such a surprising host -- how do you do it? More than 25,500 tickets sold, but numbers can't really describe the pride we feel about our town and about a team that really knows how to festival. Can we get back together next year, say March 3-6, 2011?

True/False's annual kick off parade, the MARCH MARCH, will depart at 5:00 pm from the big field next to the Macklanburg Playhouse, at 100 Willis Ave, on the north side of Broadway, just east of College Ave.

Despite what the program says, the parade starts at 5:00 pm today, NOT 5:30 pm. Costumed or not, we encourage you to join the parade as it flows from the campus of Stephens College, west down Broadway, hangs a left on 9th, and ends at the Missouri Theatre.

Now appearing in the T/F box office window: diorama globes....depicting scenes from T/F films. Uh, I'm speechless. Sabrina Braden, the inspirational leader of Maude Vintage downtown, never ceases to amaze me with her endless creativity and high-powered goodness. But these dioramas are breathtaking. She and Alisha Waller, Gabrielle Parish, Greg Tissi, Erika Adair, Sam Pounders, and Nikki Pyatt and the rest of their merry gang have tirelessly, good-naturedly spent a combined 150 hours transforming the box office at 9th & Cherry (thank you Jim Alabach & the Kroenke Co! thank you Tom C. Hall!), making it into a glowing jewel box. Check it out starting on Wednesday night.

Here are the showtimes with remaining tickets. Come on down!

SUNDAY, FEB. 28

14C. GasLand (10:00AM, Missouri)

36B. Those Who Remain (3:00PM, Missouri)

If a film you wanted to see is not on this list, remember there is still a good chance you can get in at the door by using the Q system. Inevitably, some of the people who reserved tickets don't show up, and we make those seats available for patrons at the door with our ingenious "Q" system.