The True/False 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 unbiased answers on some of the thorniest topics in the movie business.

2019 Filmmakers

RONI MOORE & JAMES BLAGDEN, directors, Midnight in Paris

MAÍRA BÜHLER, director, Let it Burn

ROSINE MBAKAM, director, Chez Jolie Coiffure

MENNA LAURA MEIJER for mint film office, director, ‘Now something is slowly changing’

JEFF PEIXOTO, director, Over the Rainbow

MIKO REVEREZA, director, No data plan

2019 Mentors

SUMYI KHONG ANTONSON is senior vice president, marketing and distribution, for the film production and distribution company, NEON. She has also worked in marketing at Anchor Bay Films and headed up field marketing efforts for The Weinstein Co.

LEAH GIBLIN serves as head of grants for Cinereach, the film production company, financier and foundation. She previously worked with Tribeca Film Institute, the Rockefeller Foundation’s Media Arts Fellowships and the programming department of the Tribeca Film Festival. She is also part of a proud lineage of former video store clerks.

SERGE LALOU joined the team of the French production company, Les Films d’Ici, in 1987. Since then he has produced more than 400 films, documentaries and feature films, including award-winning doc features Wang Bing’s Dead Souls, Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at Sea and Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir.

CARRIE LOZANO is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist. She serves as director of the International Documentary Association’s Enterprise Documentary and Pare Lorentz funds. Previously she led the Bay Area Video Coalition’s National MediaMaker Fellowship and has produced films such as The Weather Underground.

DENAE PETERS is director of impact distribution for Picture Motion, where she leads the operations and management of non-theatrical distribution. Peters is on the board of directors for Brown Girls Doc Mafia (BGDM), and has served on selection committees for festivals, including the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

RAHDI TAYLOR is head of artists in residence for Concordia Studio. She also spent 10 years as head of the Sundance Documentary Fund, lending financing and creative support to award-winning documentary films such as CITIZENFOUR, The Look of Silence, I Am Not Your Negro and Strong Island.

Mentorship Program Lunchtime Speaker

CHI-HUI YANG, curator, film scholar and educator, makes grants in film, new media and visual storytelling for the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms program. He has also curated MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight and the San Francisco Int’l Asian American Film Festival.