Industry Guide

Welcome. We’re so glad you’ll be joining us! The following is a guide to making the most of your T/F experience. Whether you are attending for the first time or consider Columbia, Missouri a home away from home, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with any questions not covered below.

PREPARATION

GETTING A PASS & TICKETS

The Silver Circle pass is the closest thing we have to your typical P&I-type pass. Both that and Center passes allow for unlimited ticket reservations in advance of the festival, but Silver Circle will allow you smoother access at the Fest, with walk-up privileges to the two largest venues, and priority Q-ing at the smaller venues, as well as a fun swag bag.

Note – all T/F pass levels allow you to reserve advance tickets. Once you purchase your pass, you’ll receive a detailed email about when and how to go about reserving tickets via this website. Each pass type has its reservation window, all of which open at 6pm US Central time. To make the most of your Fest experience, we strongly encourage you to make ticket reservations as early as you can! If you forget, or need to make a change, we will make every effort to accommodate those requests in person at the T/F Box Office once ticket sales open.

If, prior to the festival, you need to reassign your pass to someone else from your office who needs to come in your stead, no problem. We can change that for you easily. However, T/F passes are intended for use by one individual, and the weekend-of the Fest they are not shareable.

We understand that plans go awry, so if you find yourself unable to attend the Fest, we’re happy to issue a partial refund (but we’re sad you can’t join us). Prior to ticket reservations opening in February, we can refund 50% of a pass purchase. No refunds will be issued after reservations have begun for your pass type. If the Fest is canceled due to factors outside of our reasonable control, 50% of the pass price is non-refundable.

GETTING HERE

TRAVEL & LODGING

Before you consider making the trip to Columbia, we recommend familiarizing yourself with travel advisories & restrictions.

If you can fly into the Columbia Regional Airport (COU), do! It’s close, it’s cute, and it’s convenient! Connect to COU via Chicago or Dallas on American Airlines. More likely, especially on those international flights, you’ll be coming into St. Louis (STL) or Kansas City (MCI). Both are great options, both require about a 2 hour car or shuttle ride to get you the rest of the way to us here in Columbia. Mo-X is the go-to airport shuttle for STL.

True/False partners with several area hotels that we recommend for attending industry. The Broadway, and the Tiger Hotel are both in downtown Columbia, right in the middle of the action. Not downtown, but conveniently on our shuttle route is the Drury Plaza Hotel (about 10 minutes from downtown).

We’re constantly working on partnerships and collaborations with industry groups, fellowships, and filmmaker-support programs to attend True/False. If you’re interested in bringing an industry group to True/False, please get in touch with us to inquire about potential resources for your group.

Educational institutions (high school, undergraduate, and graduate programs) and non-profits can read about opportunities here–we have an entire dedicated educational team at T/F to support programs that would like to visit the Fest.

DURING YOUR STAY

The festival footprint is relatively compact within downtown Columbia, MO. The two Fest venues that are furthest apart are less than three-quarters of a mile away from each other, and most fest venues are even closer; just a few blocks apart. For a map of Columbia, restaurants, and bus stops, see the festival map, here; many of our partnering restaurants have festival discounts or specials.

We do not have a video library, nor screening spaces for rent. We prefer that industry attend public screenings along with our enthusiastic Midwestern audiences. We hope you will enjoy the atmosphere more than you’ll miss the control of private viewing; we find the audience is an important part of the experience of the film that’s not replicable in a library. We also have high standards of projection quality, and aim to present each invited film in its best light (and sound).

We partner with many wonderful restaurants, cafes, bars, and hotels, and encourage you to utilize their spaces for meetings.

Recording any audio or video in any manner and through any medium is strictly prohibited in all venues of the True/False Film Fest and Ragtag Film Society. Anyone found to be making any such recording shall be subject to removal from the theater, revocation of any pass allowing entrance to the Fest without refund, confiscation of any equipment and storage media used in the recording and criminal and/or civil prosecution.