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PrintTrue or False: Mid-Missouri recently took a bite out of the Big Apple?
Both: True/False.
In an effort to heighten awareness about the True/False Film Festival — a relaxed and intimate festival with high-quality films — its founders hit New York City’s Greenwich Village last week.
The two-day event from August 21 to 22 showcased three festival favorites at the Independent Film Channel Center: Mats Bigert and Lars Bergstrom’s “The Last Supper,” Marc Isaac’s “Someday My Prince Will Come” and a sold-out viewing of Mike Akel’s “Chalk.” All three films were featured in last February’s festival in Columbia.
True/False co-founder Paul Sturtz said he was pleased with how the event went.
“We were able to bring a miniature version of our festival in Columbia to New York,” Sturtz said.
“We wanted to convey to a new audience what the True/False Film Festival is about and spread the word about the fest,” said David Wilson, co-founder of True/False. “We also wanted to reunite True/False filmmakers from years past.”
Before the showcase kickoff, Wilson and Sturtz appeared on WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show, which has featured guests such as John Updike and Francis Ford Coppola. WNYC touts itself as the most listened-to public radio station in the United States.
The festival caught the attention of the independent film Web site indieWIRE. A recent posting described the festival as “an intriguing young film festival aimed at embracing the changing face of documentary.” Also, indie film guru John Pierson described True/False as “the best U.S. documentary festival” in an article on the IFC Center’s Web site.
The film festival began in Columbia four years ago as an outgrowth of the work Wilson and Sturtz did at the Ragtag Cinemacafé . Wilson said he saw a need for a documentary film festival in Columbia that focused on exciting and nontraditional films. Last year’s festival saw a dramatic increase in attendance from the previous year — more than 60 percent. Ticket sales surpassed organizers’ projection of 8,000; a total of 10,600 tickets were sold. The next step for Wilson and Sturtz will be a visit to the Chicago area to host a screening of “The Refugee All Stars” on Oct. 26. The screening will be held at the sixth annual Third Coast International Audio Festival in Evanston, Ill., home of Northwestern University.
March will mark the fourth installment of the True/False Film Festival. It will begin its four-day run March 1. Information about submitting films and buying tickets is available on the True/False Web site.
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