An Introduction
Jonathan Casey

I’ve stayed pretty well connected with Columbia since leaving years ago, and I always enjoy coming home. I’m close enough that I don’t feel like a complete stranger and far enough removed that I’m still jolted by how much and how little changes. New faces mingle with the old; entire blocks are so different that I’m momentarily disoriented, then I’m waving at the lady who’s still smoking a pipe on the same old porch all these years later. The building around him may be brand new, but that guy at Shakespeare’s is in the same barstool he’s occupied since I graduated from high school.

I think I was reading the Tribune’s reliably fascinating “Trib Talk” one day after Christmas when I decided to maybe stick around for awhile, to not just go straight back to Minneapolis. Trib Talk has a certain power over me; it’s everything I love about Columbia. In fact, replace a few key words in the following actual Trib Talk quote, and you’ll have an idea of how I feel: “I read my comics faithfully everyday, and no one approaches ‘the Lockhorns’ for real humor and originality. It’s the best thing on the comics page, and if you’re not reading it, you’re missing out.” Someone took the time to call Jim Robertson at the Tribune office to share this. There’s really nothing quite like this quaint, analog message board where perfect strangers anonymously call each other “dummy” and complain about their neighbor’s dog, and it makes me proud to be a Columbian.

As my Columbia visit stretched into weeks, something dawned on me: I’ve never been to the True/False Film Fest. I’m not sure how I managed this for so long. I’ve known about it for years, of course, and have always had a hard time reconciling the size and scope of the event I was hearing about with the town I grew up in. How could a world-class film festival and Trib Talk co-exist?

Well, apparently they do. And this year I’m here, I’m curious, and I aim to do a little behind-the- scenes digging for my edification and yours. I’ve chatted up the right people, infiltrated certain work spaces and requested interviews. Maybe no one’s responded to my interview requests, sure, but I have a feeling they’ll come around—so, then, won’t you join me, an outside-inner, an inside-outer, a hometown stranger, as I see just what this whole True/False business is all about?

The festival’s theme, “Out of the Ether,” was touched on at Tuesday’s volunteer orientation in Jesse Hall, and what a pleasure to see David Wilson and Paul Sturtz banter about the Periodic Table of the Elements to an auditorium of slightly bewildered volunteers! The staff of True/False, it was noted, is comprised of 95% volunteer labor, and the festival’s smooth operation and Midwestern kindness are the envy of film societies the world over. It was also noted that Xenon lamps would light every projector in True/False and that a couple of Scottish chemists were able to isolate the Noble Gases in 1894. A year-long discussion of the metaphorical and literal importance of understanding the elements led to this year’s theme, and I would certainly agree that anything from making a film to getting a thousand people together to make sure that film is seen involves some sort of alchemy. “We went deep on these elements,” said David. “The metaphor we got into was how documentary filmmakers are the people we look to, perhaps now more than ever, to look at the world, the same world we’re all looking at, and see the things we don’t see, and translate it—make it into a film, make into a piece of art.” Small bumper films before the features will touch on the theme throughout the festival.

Or so says Paul. I was off to Breakout CoMo on N. 8th to help out with and attempt to fathom this year’s very exciting, very special event, “Elemental: the Building Blocks of Matter”. I should probably admit before going any further that until last week I had never heard of an “escape room,” but that’s what they do at Breakout CoMo. T/F’s last foray into this world, “Lost Letters” has been described to me as an intensely narrative, immersive experience. “Elemental” moves away from narrative toward a more game-based model, focusing on the thematics and texture of the elements as you work through a series of puzzles in a room that is “spare, wide open, but full of hidden wonder.” “Lost Letters”was a bit theatrical, “Elemental” is closer to an art installation; in all of these rooms, you have to complete the puzzles to gain your freedom.

Ben Harris is the charming Australian in charge of electronics and 3D fabrication for “Elemental,” and he seems to be doing a lot of work.  I recently spent an afternoon stripping and soldering wires with him, occasionally burning myself. I asked him if people ever got frightened being locked in one of these puzzle rooms. Whatever he said sounded reassuring, but I can’t be sure. I can envision an “escape room” where your team can only escape by deciphering 100% of what  Ben’s saying, Australian slang included.

The irrepressible Jon Westhoff, co-owner of Breakout CoMo and co-designer of “Elemental” can be found flitting around the place, making things happen. He’s excited about the possibilities inherent in projects like “Elemental” and “Lost Letters”, escape rooms that don’t rely on jailbreak tropes, that instead challenge traditional structures and expand what the experience can be. I think that’s what he’s excited about. I think he’s fine with the jailbreak ones, too. I find that exciting too, but what do I know? I’ve only burned my fingers in an under-construction puzzle room attempting to understand an Australian, but I can already feel the magical elements at work.

Jonathan Casey is our outside-insider, inside-outsider reporting on different elements of True/False 2017 on a bi-weekly (maybe more, who knows, he’s rogue) basis. Look for his column here, and on our various, far-reaching social media platforms.