Missouri’s True/False among the first in-person film festivals since start of pandemic

The True/False Film Festival has the distinction of being the last international film festival to take place fully in person before COVID-19 lowered the curtain on 2020 events, and it is among the first to emerge from the pandemic with a live, in-person experience in 2021.

The event is May 5 through May 9 in the college town of Columbia, Mo., about 300 miles northeast of Wichita. Among the major changes to pull off this 18th version of the annual festival is moving all events and activities — including film screenings — almost entirely outdoors, pushing the dates back by two months for warmer weather and showing fewer films to match seating limitations.

What isn’t changing, organizers say, is an emphasis on showcasing non-fiction films alongside visual arts and music. The essential festival elements remain: interaction with filmmakers, busking musicians playing before film screenings, interactive art installations and special events, from a game show to a simulated campfire with storytellers.

Being outside will introduce new elements, too, including a drive-in movie option each of the five nights of the festival.

“It’s going to be a different experience, for sure, and while we won’t know until we get there, we feel like this is going to be a really mellow and relaxed fest,” festival co-founder David Wilson said in a news release. “It’s like how food cooked over a campfire tastes better — movies watched outside together just feel better.”

I attended True/False for the first time in late February/early March 2019. It lived up to its reputation for offering a well-curated lineup of documentaries, access to someone involved with the making of the film after each screening and an overall vibe that has landed True/False on MovieMaker Magazine’s list of “coolest film festivals in the world.”

One of the best features of the festival was that it was integrated into downtown Columbia and even nearby parts of the University of Missouri campus. I could have a slice at Shakespeare’s Pizza, walk half a block to watch a film at the restored 1928 Missouri Theatre then pop into a used bookstore or gift shop before I moved to the next movie venue a few blocks away.

Fortunately, True/False’s new outdoor venue is a walkable mile and a half east of the downtown district at Stephens Lake Park, where shuttles also will be running. The city-owned 116-acre park is the site of the city’s Roots N Blues Festival that draws 40,000 people in the fall.

That means plenty of room to distance at the limited-capacity events where pods — smaller groups of people attending the festival together — will be seated six feet from other attendees. Other safety measures include mandatory masks while not eating or drinking, hand-washing and hand-sanitizing stations throughout the park and a reduced emphasis on in-person line waiting by making all events individually ticketed.

Four large fields that form natural amphitheaters will become cinema venues, each with separate chair and blanket (bring your own) sections for sightlines. Other designated spaces will host music and special events. A large section of the grounds will become CoMo Square, with local pop-up restaurants, microbreweries, wineries, shops and vendors Friday through Sunday. You can also bring in your own food and drink.

A couple of venues fall outside the park. Ragtag Cinema, an independent movie theater downtown, will host indoor screenings for a small number of passholders. The parking lot at the Holiday Inn Executive Center, about a 15 minute drive from the park, will transform nightly into a drive-in venue.

While a typical True/False program includes 40 feature-length films and 25 short films, this year there are 17 feature-length and 23 shorts to accommodate the outdoor environment. Organizers expect about half of the filmmakers will be at Stephens Lake Park for in-person Q&As with the audience after each screening while the others will happen live over Zoom.

Because films are only shown at night, roughly from 8 to 10 p.m., you’ll only be able to watch one movie per night. No festival events overlap with the screenings, so you’ll want to arrive early to hear busking musicians play pop-up performances across the festival grounds, see art installations and catch any of the special events, which will happen either before or after the prime-time film screening.

Six of the feature-length films will be making their in-person international and U.S. premieres at True/False: “The Grocer’s Son, the Mayor, the Village and the World,” directed by Claire Simon; “This Rain Will Never Stop,” directed by Alina Gorlova; “From the Wild Sea,” directed by Robin Petré; “Dirty Feathers,” directed by Carlos Alfonso Corral; “Petit Samedi,” directed by Paloma-Sermon Daï; and “Songs that Flood the River,” directed by Germán Adolfo Arango.

True/False also will offer the first live screening of Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s documentary examining the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, “Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).” It won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, which was held online and streamed in 20 cities, including Wichita.

Find the full slate of True/False films and the schedule at truefalse.org.

Ticketing can be somewhat confusing for a first-timer. You can buy tickets to attend individual screenings ($15 per movie) or purchase one of several types of passes (films only, concerts only, extra perks, etc.). The biggest benefit to even the lowest price pass, the $75 Simple Pass, is that you can reserve ticket for films the general public which will be especially helpful this year with limited capacity.

Passes are available for purchase now; individual tickets go on sale Tuesday, April 20.

If You Go

What: True/False Film Fest

Where: Stephens Lake Park in Columbia, Mo.

When: May 5-9

Admission: Individual in-person tickets $15, passes starting at $75. https://truefalse.org/