As an outsider to the documentary world, it’s not easy to navigate the True/False Film Festival, an annual Columbia event running from Feb. 27 to March 2, that shows some of the latest and greatest documentaries. Forty-three films will be shown, but it is unlikely you’ve hard much about them. Here are a few documentaries from the roster that we thought looked particularly interesting. You can also find out more at the True/False website, which has a description for all the films and the locations and times when they’ll be shown.
1. “Rich Hill.”
Centered on a town south of Kansas City, Rich Hill follows three young boys for a year as they live their lives in Middle American poverty. This movie is the depiction of working-class families that are more often than not out of the spotlight. Unlike “Keeping up with the Kardashians” or “Gossip Girl,” this film focuses on how the other 99 percent lives. Directed by Andrew Droz Palermo, who grew up in Columbia, the film was awarded the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.
2. “Bronx Obama.”
Bronx Obama focuses on an Obama look-alike from the Bronx, Louis Ortiz, as he uses his appearance for gain around election season. Ortiz has been hired to play Obama in foreign films and poses as the president on the streets of New York City, taking pictures (and donations) with tourists. It will be interesting to see how the movie wraps up and finds a greater meaning in the resemblance that has become this man’s calling.
3. “The Green Prince.”
This documentary won Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Award for World Cinema: Documentary. The film centers on a Hamas leader’s son who is spying for Israel. The festival website calls the film a real-life thriller as the “green prince” risks his life for what he believes in.
4. “Close-Up.”
This is actually a film from the ‘90s that merges documentary footage and reenactments from the people involved in the story. A man convinces a family that he is a famous director and inserts himself into their lives. He ends up promising them parts in his non-existent movies and stealing money from them. The documentary portion of the film is of the trial, while the real people reenact the events.
5. “My Kid Could Paint That.”
That is a documentary about 4-year-old Maria Olmstead, a preschool artist turning a profit with her abstract artwork. The plot thickens when critics start questioning whether Olmstead’s father is the real artist behind the best-selling work. The festival website says the director takes the audience to a deeper level, bringing them to contemplate both “art and celebrity.”