Meet the 2025 programming team! These individuals are the driving force behind the festival’s creative vision, and they will be working tirelessly over the next six months to put together a fantastic slate of creative nonfiction, live music, immersive live music & beyond.
Chloé Trayner, Artistic Director / Ragtag Film Society, works across both Ragtag Cinema and True/False Film Fest. She is a film and events programmer with a specialism in non-fiction and talent development. In her current role, she works closely with the programmers on the film program for True/False as well as working with the rest of the Curation team to deliver a cohesive vision across the Fest, committed to supporting artists and connecting audiences with innovative work. Originally from the UK, Chloé is the Founder of Assembly Documentary Development Lab and was previously Festival Director of Open City Documentary Festival as well as the co-director of Overnight Film Festival.
Maya Bell, Program Coordinator / True/False Film Fest, is a filmmaker and visual journalist based in Columbia, Missouri. She is a tried and true townie and has attended almost every True/False. After volunteering for the Fest, covering it as a photojournalist at the local paper, and even playing as a busker one year, Maya joined the team as Program Coordinator in 2024. Maya studied at the Murray Center for Documentary Journalism, where she completed a short documentary film called “Small Changes”. She also has a background in visual journalism, editing, and teaching. After graduating from the University of Missouri’s Journalism School in 2023, she worked as the Assistant Director of Photography at the Columbia Missourian and taught Fundamentals of Visual Journalism at Mizzou.
Amber Love, Film Programmer / True/False Film Fest, is a festival programmer and filmmaker based in Chicago, IL whose work is deeply invested in community and the interpersonal relationships that support us. She has been a film festival programmer since 2016 and has programmed for the Atlanta Film Festival, the New Orleans Film Festival, and SFFILM Festival. Her own films have explored Afrofuturism, friendship, and Black heritage, and have been supported by PBS, IF/Then, Kartemquin Films, Firelight Media, and Short of the Week, as well as screened at festivals including Doc 10 and the Camden International Film Festival. She was a 2022 Kartemquin DVID Fellow, a 2020 Sundance Art of Editing Fellow, and an inaugural recipient of the HBO and The Gotham Documentary Development fund in 2023.
Amada Torruella, Film Programmer / True/False Film Fest, is a writer, filmmaker and programmer from El Salvador. They care deeply about stories that explore our relationship to home, place and memory. Amada has facilitated storytelling labs, led arthouse cinema programming & community curated film series, worked as youth media educator and is currently developing her first nonfiction feature film.
Sarah Nguyen, Art Installations Curator / True/False Film Fest, had the honor of joining the True/False Art Team in 2021 after participating as an installation artist at the 2019 True/False Fest. Sarah is a mixed media artist, working primarily with paper. Sarah’s work has appeared in numerous national and international solo and group exhibitions and publications. Her work has been part of exhibitions in museums and festivals including (but not limited to) Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum of Asian Pacific Experience, the Daum Museum, Pyramid Hill Sculpture Grounds and Museum, the Truman Museum, and Kansas City’s 2018 Open Spaces. Sarah has worked as an Art Instructor for ten years at University of Central Missouri, teaching courses in Foundation, Design, Painting, and Illustration. Sarah has taken part in a number of artist residencies from around the world as a visiting artist and teacher including Serbia, Bulgaria, Japan, and France, as well as the United States. In addition to curating, teaching, exhibiting, and working as a fine artist, Sarah works as the Book Designer for Pleiades Press and Magazine and as Freelance Illustrator where you can find her work on book covers and children’s books. Sarah received her BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA in Painting from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. www.sarahnguyenart.com
Ashwini Mantrala, Music Director / True/False Film Fest, has been a part of the True/False Music team since 2017 and has been leading the program since the 2023 Fest. A Missouri native, Ashwini has been curating and producing concerts beginning with his college radio career in 2016. He has served as secretary and programmer for notorious avant-garde record label Dismal Niche and its accompanying Columbia Experimental Music Festival, as well as a multi-year freelance stint with Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago.