For those not familiar with it, the True/False festival is one of the most important in the world in terms of presenting new documentaries to the audience. The name stands for creating content that is in the realm of showing the truth or clearing out something false that has spread through the land. It’s without a doubt of great importance also to newcomers in this genre, since they are able to present their work to the world, and many times also receive contributions to continue their work.
With tremendous growth in recent years, the documentary film industry is on track to become one of the leading contenders on streaming platforms. Whether it’s focusing on the lives and works of specific people or uncovering the stories of some of the worst “monsters” in Earth’s history, there’s always something new to learn, and that’s what makes these films so exciting.
Some previous examples, such as 2010’s “Senna,” which depicted the life of the Brazilian Formula 1 racing driver, set the bar quite high and paved the way for a new generation of documentary filmmakers. With great editing and excellent music, this film showed with great precision the life of a very relevant character not only in Brazil, but also in the world, since by 1990, he was one of the most important people on Earth. Produced by Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan, it won multiple awards, including two BAFTA awards for “Edition” and “Best Documentary”.
There are examples in terms of more “modest” productions, like the one of “Honeyland”, a fascinating documentary that explores the lives of Macedonian bee keepers. Following them almost 24/7, the directors Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska created a great film that has the ability to “transport” the audience to the lives of those men that collect in the “traditional way” and their relationships with their very fragile hives.
The True/False film festival
They’ve set the date for this year’s festival from the 3rd to the 6th of March, and the news is that this year it will be held again in the historical downtown Columbia settings. Since the pandemic, the festival was moved to an outdoor venue in the area close to Stephens Lake Park, but as the restrictions are slowly lifted thanks to vaccines and other treatments, it returns to its original setting.
One of the most important things to know about this festival is that its spirit is mostly cooperative since it allows people to contribute via the True/Life fund, which helps young and newcomers to create their own projects. It’s one of the festival’s most important initiatives because even when the indie directors have the support of some big studios, it isn’t enough to cover the costs of creating such art. Sometimes their work includes using stock photos as backgrounds, or even resorting to stock footage to complete their projects, but still, their hearts and great ideas compensate for those economical shortcomings.
Since filmmaking is really expensive, having a helping hand is fundamental for every producer and director, especially when it’s a film from an emerging country or a crucial matter that needs to be known by the community, like the work done by Jeff Orlowski in the impressive documentary “Chasing Ice”. For years, they’ve filmed the glaciers and shown the world how bad climate change is for the Earth, creating a masterpiece that should be played in schools to generate conscience about what is going on in the world.
In second place, this film festival has a very important rooster of premieres that generates a great atmosphere for Indies to show their work and receive, in most cases, great feedback, either to improve their work, or to gain the courage to continue expanding it. This creates a great environment that makes True/False a must-have for all documentary filmmakers, no matter their support, or even if they are renowned or not.
This year’s lineup has some great additions, like “2nd Chance,” a film that explores the bizarre life of armor creator Richard Davis, who used to shoot himself several times to promote his products. There’s also a piece by director Juan González, called “Caballerango,” which explores the deep grief of a Mexican rural community after the loss of one of its young horse wranglers. There are many more who want to show their work at this festival, so it’s a great opportunity to see some of the best indie directors’ work.
Funding the arts
The third thing to know is that this festival has a charitable fund called “True Life,” which sponsors a film. This year’s choice is “The Territory”, a film that explores the lives of the indigenous surveillance teams in the Brazilian Amazons, which check on the lives of a tribe called the “Uru-eu-wau-wau”. It’s a mixture of rich environments to film in, with a great courageous story that follows the day-to-day life of these fundamental workers in that great jungle.
Another big reason for participating in this festival is that every year the directors return to this kind of “holy place” where they find themselves at home. It’s a great place to get to meet some of them, and maybe have a little chat. In particular, for those young directors that want to present their ideas and maybe also find a producer interested in a new and revolutionary film.
Finally, but not less importantly, the premieres included in this festival are amongst the best one can ever find, particularly in the documentary film industry. Since the film review process is very strict, sometimes that amount of work in taking details into consideration has great results. There’s more than one reason to swing by this festival, check out one of its streams online, and enjoy some of the best films the documentary industry has to offer.
