True/False is a film festival in Columbia, Missouri, USA focused on cinema constructed from reality. We receive hundreds of nonfiction film submissions of all kinds from around the world, from works of conventional reportage, to the experimental and avant-garde, and all of them will be viewed at least once by members of the True/False Screening Committee. 

True/False Screening Committee members (CANARIES) thoughtfully view and correctly identify films of interest to the True/False programming team. Our screening committee is key to our programming process, sometimes the first people to critically consider a submission. We take this role very seriously. We approach film as art, and pride ourselves on being open-minded about what the term nonfiction encompasses rather than adhering to truth and fiction as a binary. We know that it’s often in the space – or slash – between the two where the magic lives, and actively seek out work that engages with reality in surprising and expansive ways. 

Cinema is a portal into another universe. While we can’t fully know the relationship between the film in front of us and the sliver of the world it represents, we do our best to watch in good faith and honor the complexity of the lives we have been graciously invited into. We de-center  films that present human beings as symbols, archetypes, or evidence, and champion those that take creative risks, exhibit sensitivity, and kindle the imagination.