Saturday is the biggest and craziest day of True/False. Today featured 42 screenings on 8 screens in addition to concerts, panels, a fete, a stroll, a race and a game show!
Things started off at 9:00 AM with an extra chilly edition of our True Life Run. Seventy or so brave souls faced down the cold and competed, with Mike Burden finishing victorious.
The True Life Run is a benefit for our True Life Fund. Which Way is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington, this year’s True Life Fund film, played to a near capacity crowd at the 1,700 seat Jesse Hall in an especially moving screening. Before the film pastor Dave Cover of sponsor The Crossing explained his church’s interest in “film as a window into the human condition”. Afterwards Sebastian Junger received a standing ovation for his film about his fallen comrade.
As David mentioned at the show, this is the first time the subject of the True Life Film is no longer with us. The Fund will be benefiting two causes, The Milton Margais School for the Blind, an institution that played an important role in Tim’s life and work, and Reporters Instructed in Saving Colleagues, a charity created by Junger to offer freelance war reporters free medical training. Junger explained why started RISC, “I realized that if I had been with him, I couldn’t have saved his life, cause I didn’t know what to do either”. You can donate to the True Life Fund online.
Saturday’s events included our annual soiree at PS Gallery, the Filmmaker Fete.
And Speed Levitch’s whimsical tour of the town, The Speculative Stroll.
The 2013 edition of Gimme Truth!, the world’s only (known) documentary game show, was the first to feature a panel of all returning judges, reigning champion Heidi Ewing (Detropia, Jesus Camp), Bill Ross (Tchoupitoulas, 45365) and Sergio Oksman (Notes on the Other, A Story for the Modlins). Between tequila shots, the trio watched ten 2-minute shorts and tried determine if they were 100% True or 100% False. Hosted by Johnny St. John, Gimme Truth! is big part of what makes True/False True/False.
T/F’s Chelsea Myers interviewed Lucy Walker, the director of one of Saturday’s big hits, The Crash Reel, for this short video. In it Walker discusses the multi-source documentary.
As always, our secret weapon, the T/F busking army, was out in full force. The day concluded the So Many Dynamos headlining our Mojo’s A-Go-Go showcase. Earlier, Snya So Pro warmed up a crowd at The Blue Note.
Our #truefalse hashtag continues to collect outbursts of enthusiasm. Here are a few examples:
Crash Reel had me tearing up so many times. Such a great film. Congrats to Lucy Walker and team! #truefalse
-Dan Lindsay @dan_lindsay
Wow! The Last Station. Intimate look at the last days of life with fantastic cinematography. And the sounds too, so wonderful. #truefalse
-Brandon Hoops @courtsidehoops
I’ve got that cold clammy hand feeling of just having seen one of the best docs in years; THE ACT OF KILLING. #truefalse
-Tom Roston @DocSoupMan
“Cutie and the Boxer” is a revelation. A near-perfect film. #truefalse
-Aarik Danielsen @aarikdanielsen
“Which Way Is the Front Line from Here?”: The life of a journalist who successfully humanized war and people involved. #truefalse
-Katie Yaeger @KatieYaeger
When Jeremy Scahill spoke after Dirty Wars, I just wanted to get up and shout “AMEN” to everything he said. #truefalse
-Beatriz Costa-Lima ?@Bcostalima
Cutie and the Boxer was a unique love story, romantic but also painfully messy. And to meet the protagonists! What a day. #truefalse
-Luke Damiani @lukeandrewd
Can you believe it? Only one day left. We’ll see you tomorrow!
