Rocheport farmer Nancy Shepherd has several hours of chores to take care of this weekend. But between caring for her calving cows and baby potbellied pigs, she’ll be squeezing in time for seven films at the True/False Film Festival, which kicked off Thursday afternoon. At 11:15 a.m. Thursday, Shepherd was No. 90 in line at the Cherry Street Artisan for tickets, which went on sale at noon. Shepherd said she and her husband were inspired to attend True/False this year after attending the Edinburgh Film Festival in Scotland a few years ago.
“It’s all so thought-provoking,” she said. “We hope nothing at the farm prevents us from coming to all the shows.”
More than three dozen nonfiction films will be screened at True/False, which ends Sunday.
The festival will also feature concerts, workshops and a parade Friday afternoon.
Michael Scott, of Columbia, got tickets to the opening night film at the Missouri Theatre, “In the Shadow of the Moon.” Scott, who has come to the festival every year since it started four years ago, said he likes going to True/False to “increase awareness of things I don’t really know about — the violence, other issues. It’s important not to be so North-American-centric.”
Mark Schovenveld, who is in town from Philadelphia to volunteer at the Blue Note as a projectionist, said he’s been to the Sundance, Telluride and Philadelphia film festivals in the past. This year, he said, will be his second time attending True/False.
“It’s an up-and-coming festival and is well-programmed,” Schovenveld said.
While Schovenveld said he is excited to view all the films that will be shown at the Blue Note, he’s particularly interested in seeing “Kurt Cobain About a Son,” which he heard is an innovative and interesting portrait of the former lead singer of the band Nirvana.
“(A Nirvana album) was the first CD I ever bought, and there are supposedly no Nirvana songs in the film,” Schovenveld said.
Luke Daughterty, the director of arts and culture at the Cherry Street Artisan, said there were more people lined up to get tickets this year than ever before. Festival organizers were prepared for the increase with more cashiers and volunteers working the line.
“The box office table is bigger this year,” Daughterty said. “It moved a lot faster.”
Kay Gregory said she woke up at 6 a.m. and took off half a day’s work to make sure she got to the Artisan in time to get the tickets she wanted. Ticket lines that were “snaking out the door of the Artisan” kept her from attending the festival last year. But even with better preparation this year, Gregory still didn’t get tickets to the film she wanted to see most, “Row Hard No Excuses.” She did end up buying 10 tickets for other shows for her and her boyfriend to attend, though.
As of 5 p.m. Thursday, an estimated 10,000 tickets had been sold, said Beth Kopine, True/False’s box office master. No advanced tickets are left for 27 movies, but tickets are still available to 30 more films, she said.
Missourian reporters Kaitlin Ballard and Kyle Wayne Stewart contributed to this story.