Support for the True Life Fund comes from outreach and fundraising events within the Columbia community and generous donations from True/False attendees. A portion of the proceeds from the True Life Run also supported the fund. This year, four subjects from Bully joined the run, including Alex Libby, Philip Libby and Bobby Johnson, who ran in honor of all the victims of bullying, and David Long, who ran in honor of his son Tyler Long and all the families who have lost loved ones to bullying. The Bertha Foundation also matched $15,000 of the funds raised for the True Life Fund. This combined effort resulted in $30,000 for the 2012 True Life Fund, doubling the amount raised last year.

The film’s director Lee Hirsch, producer Cynthia Lowen and an “extended family” of subjects from Bully, including Alex Libby, Philip Libby, Jackie Libby, Maya Libby, Ethan Libby, Kelby Johnson, Londa Johnson, Bobby Johnson, David Long and Tina Long, visited Columbia public high schools for school-wide assemblies on March 2 to discuss the film and their experiences with bullying. Hickman High School presented a donation of $3,000 to the subjects of Bully from fundraising events such as the Hickman Purple Cow Lip-Sync contest.

Bully is expected to return to Columbia at Ragtag Cinema later this spring.

The recipients of the 2012 True Life Fund wrote in to share their experience at the Fest:

“I really enjoyed my time in Columbia. I have been to several film festivals on behalf of Bully, and True/False stood out for me. The participation and support from the community was overwhelming at times, and the local high schools were awesome and welcomed us with open arms. I felt very privileged to get to be there and to be a part of something so important. To be chosen to receive the funds raised by the True Life Fund and matched by the Bertha Foundation is truly an honor. Your generosity will be used to continue the fight to eliminate bullying, with trips already on the schedule for this spring and summer. This money will help me to realize my goal of making life better for kids everywhere.”

—Kelby Johnson, subject of Bully

“I wanted to take a moment and thank you for allowing us the pleasure of attending your event and for making us a part of the True Life Fund. We had a wonderful time and Jessica and her team of Liaisons went above and beyond for us while we were there. As I was telling you at the time, we have been to a number of festivals and this was by far our favorite. The commitment from the community, the attitude of everyone involved, the proximity of the venues to one another and never lacking for anything to do all made for a great time. It is obvious that this is a very well planned and executed event. I didn’t want any more time slipping by without giving you and your team a heartfelt thank you. It was truly a pleasure meeting you.”

—Bobby Johnson, father of Kelby Johnson

“We all had such a wonderful weekend in Columbia at the T/F Film Fest; it was more than we could’ve hoped for. Thank you all again for everything.”

—Philip Libby, father of Alex Libby

“Everyone in the town of Columbia was so gracious.  We all felt loved and supported.”

—Tina and David Long, subjects of Bully and parents of Tyler Long, who took his own life after being bullied

“We are so floored by this. Thank you guys so much! We will use whatever funds come to go to more schools and speak to more kids. We so appreciate this!”

—Kirk Smalley, subject of Bully and father of Ty Smalley, who took his own life after being bullied

“Thank you. God bless you all.”

—Barbara Primer, mother of Ja’Meya Jackson, subject of Bully

“Thank you so much, I can’t believe how much love Columbia showed us all—it was such an incredible weekend. It meant so much to have Bully and all of the families who created this film together with us honored at True/False in such a way.”

—Cynthia Lowen, producer of Bully

For more information, see the T/F True Life Fund page, or visit the True Life Fund on Facebook.

—Kristin Torres

TRUE/FALSE: Tell us about how the idea for the Hi Def Academy came about, and what the participants will get to do over the festival weekend.

POLINA MALIKIN: The idea is — we have this festival with all these amazing resources. How do we make it accessible and inspiring for young people in our community? From the start, True/False has given out free tickets and held filmmaker visits to reach out to the young people in our community and engage them in the festival, but we wanted to do something more intensive this year. So we created two new programs, and the Hi-Def Academy is one of them. We’re giving them a behind-the-scenes look at the festival. So the group gets to go together through the festival, meet filmmakers, see films together, and kind of have this inside view of how the festival works. And after the festival, they’ll talk to True/False staff to debrief and understand—not just, “OK, let’s talk about the issues in this documentary, let’s talk about documentary or art-making in general”—but talk about how a community event like this is put together.

T/F: What was the recruitment and selection process for the first year of the Academy?

PM: Because it’s our first year, we’re figuring out a lot. We have point persons in every public high school. And through them, we have an application that’s fairly simple — just asking, “Why are you interested in this? What appeals to you about True/False and documentary film and community events?” And we have those teachers distribute the applications, recruit students, and then put forward their top candidates.

T/F: What kind of students were you looking to reach with the program?

PM: We selected a group of students who are already interested in film, who are able to handle a rigorous schedule. We wanted students who have the maturity to be able to take on this big thing. Before we decided on our schedule and selected the students, we told them, “Hey, you’re going to this documentary film festival, and there are going to be films with some adult language and coarse material.” It’s pretty rigorous — we ask them to research films, do lots of independent work, and then sit down with a filmmaker and say, “Hey, tell me about your film. I want to know about these issues.”

T/F: How did you choose particular films and directors for the Hi Def Academy?

PM: Two of the filmmakers — this is their first feature film, they’re just out of school. So they’re just a few years older than some of the students, and we thought that would be really fun. The film is called Only the Young, by Elizabeth Mims and Jason Tippet. We thought it would be fun for them to have a kind of role model—to see someone in their twenties taking on this very rigorous, independent path.

T/F: What do you hope the participants take away from their experience in the Academy?

PM: I think it’s really important for people interested in the arts and filmmaking to see examples of other people doing creative things, and for them to be inspired by it. It’s always a tricky question: what creates that final push from a student saying, “I’m interested,” to having an experience and the being able to find this career path? I don’t know what that is. I’ve been an educator for many years and its still a mystery to me how to gauge that. But I can see how specific workshops and opportunities informed me and inspired and gave me the courage to be an artist and a filmmaker. Whatever it is you decide to do, have the courage to follow your vision — that’s something we hope the students take away from the program.