True/False is also unlike any other film festival because no film is ever truly sold out! If tickets aren’t available, you can “queue” outside the show you want to see, and True/False workers will hand out numbers an hour prior to the show. They call out numbers about 15 minutes before the show starts. If your number is called, you get to see the show!
With such a popular and nationally recognized film festival right in our backyard, there’s no reason not to go. Here’s a quick rundown of the most buzzed about-movies at this year’s True/False.
The Imposter is a thriller about 13-year-old Charlie, who goes missing in Texas but is found 3 years later in Spain. His parents get a phone call claiming that he is alive. The creators of the film are keeping audiences in the dark about the rest of the plot, but it’s sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.
Detropia takes place in Detroit, where the viewer rediscovers the once-powerful city. The movie centers on a blogger, a nightclub owner and an opera singer as they each give the viewer an exclusive look into the city. It chronicles their struggles as well as the pride that the people in this city still have.
Only the Young is a documentary that follows two best friends, Kevin and Garrison, in Southern California. The boys spend their days skating around the abandoned landscape of the desert. However everything changes when Garrison discovers the opposite sex. The film follows these adolescents as they go through life-changing moments. This heartwarming film is being screened for the first time at True/False.
Undefeated, which just took home an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, is a Friday Night Lights type film that follows an inner-city football team at Manassas High School in North Memphis, Tenn. The team tries their shot at a winning season after years of coming up short. Coach Bill Courtney helps turn things around for this hopeful team. Bonus: one of the directors (Daniel Lindsay) is a Mizzou grad!
Going Up the Stairs is about an Iranian grandmother who discovers her passion for painting later in life. After helping her grandson on an art project, she begins to paint on her own, without her husband’s knowledge. But she has to ask for her husband’s permission when she’s invited to an exposition in Paris. The film shows that despite Iranian women having no formal power, they can still have their share of authority. This is the first screening of the film.
The Queen of Versailles is one of the more lighthearted films of the festival. No, it isn’t about Marie Antoinette. The film follows Jacquie Siegal, a mother of eight who married for money – not once but twice. Jacquie and her husband decide that they need a bigger house. And not just any size house but a 90,000-square-foot palace big enough to rival Versailles. The movie follows Jacquie’s attempt to build the perfect palace, and it shows how much happiness money can really buy.
For more information, check out truefalse.org.