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True/False Film Fest Announces 2020 Lineup
Boys State The lineup is out for this year’s True/False Film Fest, running March 5 to 9. Find the full list below (including this year’s Neither/Nor retrospective sidebar, focusing on Missouri born and raised filmmakers, and a retrospective for True Vision honorees Bill and Turner Ross) along with links to trailers and some previous coverage of a few directors from our end. All descriptions from the festival.
45365
Dir. Bill & Turner Ross; 2009; 94 min.
An ode to the colors and characters of small-town Americana, True Vision honorees Bill and Turner Ross’ debut is a sweeping portrait of their birthplace, Sidney, Ohio, and its idiosyncrasies.
Aswang
Dir. Alyx Ayn Arumpac; 2019; 85 min.
A fog of state-sanctioned violence hovers over the Philippines where fear and death haunt the lives of a journalist, a coroner, and a motherless child. [Trailer]
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
An eclectic cast of barflys convenes in its favorite dive for one final night of cheap beer, well whiskey, and mischief.
Boys State
The Lone Star State’s best and brightest teenage boys assemble for a week of civics and shenanigans as they compete for the title of Texas Boys State governor. Presented by Veterans United Home Loans
Catskin
A German boy and his family confront ghosts from their country’s past in this slippery, mesmeric portrait.
City So Real
From the Back of the Yards to the booths of Daley’s diner, legendary Chicago filmmaker Steve James (The Interrupters, Hoop Dreams) delivers a lively, multilayered chronicle of the city during the pivotal mayoral race of 2019.
Collective
In the aftermath of a horrific and deadly nightclub fire, Romanian bureaucrats and journalists fight tenaciously to bring integrity to broken systems. Presented by the Kinder Institute for Constitutional Democracy [Trailer, no subtitles]
Crestone
As the world burns, millennials descend on Crestone, Colorado, to grow weed, spit bars, and fill their bellies with bologna. [25 New Faces of Film profile]
Crip Camp
A rambunctious story about the fight for disability rights in America and the Summer of Love when it all began. Presented by Rusk Rehabilitation Center [Clip]
Dick Johnson is Dead
Kirsten Johnson kills her father over and over again in this black comedy that asks, What if you never had to lose the people you love?
Dope is Death
In 1973, the government turns to methadone and mass incarceration to combat soaring drug addiction in American cities. The Black Panther Party and the Young Lords join forces to promote an alternative, the radical use of acupuncture.
Down a Dark Stairwell
Set in motion by a tragic police-involved shooting, two communities of color navigate fraught perceptions of injustice, inequality, and discrimination in the eyes of the law.
The Faculties
A film student forgets the plot to Battleship Potemkin and a botany student mistakes ovules and ovaries in this intense and brilliantly structured study of young scholars undertaking oral examinations at the University of Buenos Aires. [Trailer, no subtitles]
Faith
The Warriors of Light live in total isolation. Acolytes partake in rigorous daily exercises and prayer under the tutelage and control of their Master … until one person tries to escape.
Feels Good Man
The story of a little frog who gets lost in the dark web.
The Giverny Document (Single Channel)
“Do you feel safe in your body?” Ja’Tovia Gary asks black women on a sunny day in Harlem as she reflects on her own image and self worth in Claude Monet’s garden.
IWOW: I Walk On Water
Returning to the nocturnal streets of East Harlem, a groundbreaking portrait artist evolves his practice in this work of beauty, invention, and vulnerability. [Trailer]
Lovemobil
Along German country roads, immigrant sex workers sit alone in dimly lit camper vans, hoping to attract clientele. [Trailer]
A Machine to Live In
In Brasília, utopian geometry, monumental myth-making, and alien-centered architecture present concrete plans for their country’s crumbling foundation. [25 New Faces of Film profile]
małni—towards the ocean, towards the shore
Sky Hopinka’s debut feature is a meditative journey through the lush Pacific Northwest, guided by the Chinookan origin-of-death myth.
Mayor
Meet the mayor of Ramallah, Palestine, as he contends with provincial predicaments: potholes, holiday parties, and the occupation of his city’s land by another government’s military.
The Metamorphosis of Birds
An epistolary love story spanning decades of marriage, six children, and an ocean.
The Mole Agent
A kindhearted widower infiltrates a Chilean retirement home to investigate rumors of neglect in this compassionate and clever detective story.
Mucho Mucho Amor
Larger-than-life Puerto Rican TV astrologer Walter Mercado captivated millions with his theatrical horoscope readings, magnificent capes, and uplifting message—until he mysteriously vanished.
N/N: Films of Mike Henderson
Marshall, Missouri’s Mike Henderson creates abstractions out of household appliances and finds radical ways to explore history in his mesmerizing short films.
N/N: Films of Tom Palazzolo
Tom Palazzolo’s short films find wry humor in American rituals, such as wedding showers, beauty contests, and lottery drawings.
N/N: still/here
Christopher Harris returns home to north St. Louis and creates his own cinematic language to look at its vacant spaces.
N/N: The Gloria Tapes
In this penetrating look at a woman navigating the welfare system, Kansas City’s Lisa Steele draws from a decade of working at a women and children’s shelter.
Nofinofy
A Malagasy barber tends to the scalps and dreams of his clientele in this warm and tactile portrait of a community fixture. [Trailer]
Pier Kids: The Life
An unfiltered look at life and the families that form along the piers at the end of Christopher Street, told by three homeless queer and trans youths of color. [Trailer]
Ridge
Drawing from local lore, residents of the rural town of Kvidinge, Sweden, collaborate in this magical and mysterious collection of vignettes. [Trailer]
Seven Years in May
On the run and away from home for more than seven years, Rafael’s life-changing experience with police is restaged as he faces down his demons. [Trailer]
Shorts: Blanc
A celestial collection of secrets, ceremonies, and ageless places.
Shorts: Bock
Artists from across the globe locate radical and ingenious ways to interrogate power structures.
Shorts: Rouge
A vibrant suite that heightens the senses and takes the viewer on a journey of healing.
Shorts: Rye
A wry, wily trip across America on the cross-talk express.
So Late So Soon
A half-century into their marriage, two Chicago artists look back at their lives together and contend with a never-ending series of house repairs.
Some Kind of Heaven
America’s largest retirement community, The Villages is where people come to live. Presented by Fresh Ideas [25 New Faces of Film profile]
Sunless Shadows
Serving time for murder, five young women form a new family inside a Tehran juvenile detention center. [Trailer]
A Supa Special Wakaliwood Event for All True/False Commandos
Ribs get tickled then broken in this exhilarating action film from Uganda.
Talking About Trees
Following decades of government censorship, four retired filmmakers form the Sudanese Film Group and attempt to revive a deserted movie palace in this sweet and humorous ode to cinephilia. [Clip, no subtitles]
Tchoupitoulas
Our True Vision honorees take us on an intoxicating nighttime journey through the Big Easy as experienced by three bright-eyed brothers. [A eight-year-old trailer]
That Cloud Never Left
In the Indian village of Daspara, a lunar eclipse is approaching. The villagers recycle 35mm film reels into enchanting toys.
Those That, At a Distance, Resemble Another
A perfect, gleaming ivory tusk is fabricated by a team of expert hands in this dazzling voyage into the world of preservation. [Trailer]
Time
Director Garrett Bradley delicately captures one family’s milestones and everyday joys amidst their monumental fight to free their father from a 60-year prison sentence.
Unskinned
A Portuguese tannery employee mysteriously abandons her post, leaving co-workers to process her departure in this transfixing study of labor and beauty. [Trailer]
The Viewing Booth
Researcher and filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz tests the limits of nonfiction images’ ability to function as evidence. [Trailer]
Welcome to Chechnya
This vital, harrowing film embeds with everyday citizens as they band together to bring LGBT+ residents of Chechnya to safety.
