We’re excited to introduce SYNAPSES, a new pillar of the Fest elevating dialogue and ideas to the foreground of True/False weekend.

Thanks to a grant from the Ford Foundation, this year a mini-Ideas Fest has been built within True/False. Under the banner of SYNAPSES, T/F presents “FIELD SESSIONS” (conversations reimagined), the “TRANSMEDIA ARCADE” (VR and interactive work) and “PROVOCATIONS” (short pre-film rants & raves).

FIELD SESSIONS, presented in partnership with Field of Vision, offer an unprecedented (and totally free)  entry point into the most relevant issues in contemporary nonfiction film. The sessions jettison traditional festival panels, in some cases remaking them as intense, intimate one-on-one dialogues such as Heidi Ewing (Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You) mixing it up with Jeff Feuerzeig (Author: The JT LeRoy Story) about biographic filmmaking. Field Sessions also offers the fest an opportunity to experiment with ideas through a game show format: AJ Schnack (Speaking is Difficult) hosts the freewheeling Clicking & Streaming, devoted to exploring archival video.  

PROVOCATIONS, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, spotlights six hand-picked agitators from outside the film world to the Fest, all with challenging ideas and provocative presentation styles. These micro-presentations will range from sharing  the perfect way to craft a paper airplane to making a low-impact burial. Each Provocateur will present before a feature film and then, en masse, at our Sunday morning Chautauqua.  

At the CHAUTAUQUA, also sponsored by the Ford Foundation, host Kaitlin Prest (from the podcast The Heart) presides over a variety show featuring provocations, music, and storytelling. Immediately following, continue the conversation one-on-one in the Bingham Gallery with a high tea featuring Fire Pot teas from Kaldi’s Coffee.

Also new in 2016 is THE GOOD WIZARD ARCADE, home to our growing Transmedia programming. Located in the Picturehouse lobby and open anytime the Picturehouse is open, THE GOOD WIZARD ARCADE will offer fest-goers a carefully curated selection of the very best new interactive and Virtual Reality projects, all presented in an art-designed and blacklit 80s video arcade environment. The first 450 visitors will get to take home their own Cardboard Virtual Reality viewer, donated by the VR team at Google.

Finally, the previously announced LOST LETTERS offers fest-goers a live immersive and interactive theater experience. Taking cues from both the worlds of non-traditional theater, Virtual Reality and videogame design, and the rapidly spreading puzzle rooms, this hour-long performance transforms typical storytelling and challenges fest-goers to take an active role in the unfolding narrative. Designed for  T/F 2016 by a team that includes the Greenhouse Theatre Project, Neon Treehouse and Breakout CoMo, LOST LETTERS is a unique T/F experience made possible in part through a new partnership with Kickstarter.

See more details about who/what/when and where HERE.