PRINTA look back, a leap forward
Courtesy of True/False
February 28, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
For more on each movie, visit our True/False blog.
David Wilson is busy. That’s par for the course this season. This year, however, has provided a greater list of demands and challenges for the co-founder of the True/False Film Festival.
Paul Sturtz provides his favorite movies from past T/F festivals.
The Monastery
“An intimate look at an elderly eccentric in Denmark with a dream. I connected with this in a big way.”
Control Room
“Showed us that the American media didn’t own the only version of reality, and it plunged us right in the middle of a fascinating place: the Al Jazeera television network.”
The Yes Men
“Quite flawed but hilarious and biting at times. The meaning of subversive, and I loved it.”
I Like Killing Flies
“The owner of Shopsin’s restaurant (in New York) is the meaning of difficult, but he also can teach us a lot. The director, Matt Mahurin, brought him to us in all his complicated glory.”
The Chances of the World Changing
“Moving and beautiful, this shows us what a fragile toehold humans may have in the world, and it’s done through an involving story of a guy trying to save the turtles.”
Extensive renovations continue for the Missouri Theatre, which previously served as the festival’s flagship venue. The loss of space means Wilson and fellow founder Paul Sturtz have had to expand True/False’s borders while the increasing number of film submissions has mandated new selection procedures. And with every incarnation of the festival eclipsing the previous in both size and scope, there is the perennial matter of how to deal with audience growth that threatens to stretch beyond the point of sustainability.
Despite the trials that accompany success, the creators of the burgeoning festival remain excited and are determined to meet new challenges as they arrive.
It is this spirit that is represented in “The Future Perfect,” Columbia artist David Spear’s promotional art for the 2008 True/False. In it, two children holding hands leap blindly across a cliff with legs outstretched. Their heads are held high. Without fear or hesitation, they take flight, uncertain of where they are headed yet full of optimism.
Five Years of Progress
Already, 2008 seems to represent a leap forward for True/False. In 2007, the festival sold approximately 750 passes that allowed holders to claim tickets before they were officially available for purchase. This year, all 1,400 passes sold out more than two weeks before the festival began.
True/False coordinators estimated last year’s attendance was roughly 15,000, and greater numbers are expected this year. Unfortunately, the largest crowd yet coincides with the loss of the Missouri Theatre and its considerable 1,200 seats. To compensate, the festival has for the first time extended beyond The District to take advantage of screens at Macklanburg Cinema, Windsor Cinema and The Den on the Stephens College campus.
True/False also occurs on the heels of a brief hiatus and location change for Ragtag Cinema, the independent movie house whose creation now seems a preliminary step in Wilson and Sturtz’s plan to bring cinematic culture to Columbia. The new building houses two screens, both of which will show movies for the duration of the festival, bringing the number of theaters in use throughout the festival to seven — more than twice the number of venues at the festival’s first incarnation.
With what looks to be a record audience of filmgoers comes potentially significant profits for local businesses. Mo Scarpelli, a barista at Cherry Street Artisan, says the coffee shop gets more business during True/False than any other time of the year.
“We are the box office for the event, so we have a line for ticket purchasers and a line for customers,” Scarpelli says. “But when people line up, the lines go out the door.”
The droves of excited moviegoers bring with them a palpable spirit. Scarpelli says more people are willing to work the weekend due to the excitement of the event and the staff nearly doubles. One former employee has even offered to come back and work.
The Artisan is not alone. Jeremy Brown, one of the owners of True/False sponsor Addison’s, says his restaurant sees a sizeable spike in business, too.
“There are more people downtown throughout the day,” he says. “Besides just having a busy lunch and busy dinner, we stay busy throughout the day.” Although the boost in the local economy could be enough to convince residents of the merit of the film festival — this is the first year a survey will be taken that assesses its economic impact — True/False brings much more than money to Columbia.
Jeremy Brown thinks True/False brings an abundance of culture as well. “It brings a diverse atmosphere,” he says. “We’re in a fairly rural area, and I know that Columbia wants to become a hotspot for movies and moviemakers.”
A Vision Realized
If Columbia is indeed becoming such a hotspot, Wilson and Sturtz are the primary culprits.
The first year of True/False, the pair traveled to some of the more established names in the festival circuit to woo filmmakers to their own. Such moves are no longer necessary to attract even the cream of the documentarian crop: Within five years, True/False has become a brand unto itself, and without solicitation, both experienced and aspiring documentary filmmakers have submitted their works.
“People are coming to us more and saying, ‘Hey, please think about showing this film,’” Wilson says.
This year, filmmakers inundated True/False with more than 450 entries and prompted the establishment of an official submissions committee. A side effect of the greater number of films is the chance for True/False to be more selective in its choices. Wilson says they’ve had some big names come calling, but even they aren’t guaranteed a spot.
This isn’t surprising, of course. True/False was never about attracting the biggest names but, rather, fostering a thoughtful, critical audience for film in Columbia. This year’s edition of Gimme Truth!, the local filmmaking contest sponsored by True/False, set new records for submissions. Even high school students have applied. Wilson interprets this level of participation as a sign that Columbia is taking film more seriously.
“Columbians are thinking about documentary films; they’re thinking about becoming filmmakers themselves,” Wilson says. “I really believe one of the great things about documentaries is if your story is good enough, you can make a good documentary. You can pick up that camera for the very first time, having never made a movie before, and you can do something right.”
As the media landscape evolves and becomes more homogenized, documentaries stand out as outlets for an independent voice, says Seth Ashley, a documentary filmmaker and professor at Stephens College and MU. That, coupled with the variety of discussions and other events, makes True/False compelling.
“It’s more than just a festival,” Ashley says.
Staying Accessible
The Telluride Film Festival, founded in 1974, is often the first stop for pieces of great American independent film. It provided the formal blueprint Wilson and Sturtz needed when first creating True/False: a non-marketplace, weekend-long film festival. There’s one important distinction, though: The Cinephile Pass, the most basic pass at Telluride, sells for $340 while the Simple Pass at True/False sells for $55. With such high prices, Telluride creates an exclusive atmosphere that neglects to include all groups of film enthusiasts, a pitfall True/False seeks to avoid.
“We want it to always be accessible to the people of Columbia,” Wilson says. “The people of Columbia are not going to pay $600 for a pass no matter how cool the festival is.”
The trick is to maintain a balance between size and affordability — to keep growth in check while ensuring that any person who wants the opportunity to check out the films still has access to them.
“It’s one of the biggest problems we have each year,” Wilson says. “We try and anticipate what our growth will be and then keep up with it. This year for the first time, we sold out of passes. A year ago, I didn’t think that was possible.”
If True/False doesn’t have much in common with Telluride, it shares even less with the world’s Sundances, festivals catered strongly toward corporate film distributors rather than the everyday film buff.
Filmmaker Margaret Brown, who brought Be Here to Love Me in 2005, returns to True/False this year with The Order of Myths. Brown says True/False provides an important communal aspect for all attendees. Meeting fellow filmmakers is a perk other festivals fail to offer. “At True/False, you really get a chance to watch their movies, which you don’t get to do at Sundance or Toronto,” Margaret Brown says, “because you’re too busy publicizing your own to talk to other people.”
With True/False growing more firmly established with every passing year, Wilson and Sturtz plan to keep the festival true to its roots and to their original vision of a community festival.
“True/False is happy to be a sort of stop on the circuit,” Wilson says. “Sometimes a film does a sneak preview at True/False and then has its world premiere somewhere else. Sometimes we come after the world premiere. We don’t really care. We just want to show the films we like, and we want those films to be successful.” V
