THE TRUE/FALSE SWAMI mentorship program was launched in 2007 as a way to help new nonfiction filmmakers navigate the sometimes treacherous terrain of the doc film world. Through meetings with seasoned industry professionals, first-time filmmakers get friendly advice on everything that happens after they finish their final cut. From sales agents to online distribution to European press, this is a chance for filmmakers to get honest answers to some of the thorniest topics in the movie business.

2016 FILMMAKERS

ÀLEX LORA and ANTONIO TIBALDI, co-directors, Thy Father’s Chair

JESSICA DIMMOCK and CHRISTOPHER LAMARCA, co-directors, The Pearl

JULIA PESCE, director, Nosotras · Ellas

TONY STONE, director, Peter and the Farm

MORITZ SIEBERT and ESTEPHAN WAGNER, co-directors, Those Who Jump

BRETT STORY, director, The Prison in Twelve Landscapes

2016 SWAMIS

NANCY GERSTMAN, co-president and co-founder of Zeitgeist Films. Nancy also serves as permanent artist-in-residence in the master’s program in media and communication arts at CCNY.

RYAN HARRINGTON, director of acquisitions for documentaries and specials, Discovery Channel. Prior to this, Ryan worked with the Tribeca Film Institute, first as director of documentary programming and then as VP of Artist Relations.

TABITHA JACKSON, director of the Sundance Documentary Film Program. Tabitha was the commissioning arts editor of True Stories at Channel 4 television (London).

TIM LEAGUE, co-founder and CEO of Alamo Drafthouse and Drafthouse Films, and co-founder and director of Fantastic Fest, the largest genre film festival in the U.S.

JESS SEARCH, co-founder of the independent filmmakers’ network Shooting People. She is also the chief executive of the BRITDOC Foundation, which gives support to filmmakers through projects like The Good Pitch.

NOLAND WALKER, senior content director for the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and co-curator, PBS’s Independent Lens. Prior to ITVS, Noland served as executive editor of the Association of Independents in Radio’s Localore project.

SWAMI KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Liz Cook, film community manager for Kickstarter in Brooklyn.