The True/False Is Out There

Sunday night in Columbia, Missouri: After seeing a film about Ozark Mountain hillbilly music inside a sold out 1200-seat theater - and before hanging out at a party inside a historic soda bottling plant (and soon to be art house/bakery/videostore empire) - I sat at a table inside a small Mexican restaurant and talked with four excellent people about how we could change the world. Or at least our little corner.

What to do now that companies like Wellspring are being swallowed up? Should we do our own distribution? How do we harness the power of what is new and come up with what is possible?

All the conversations that we’ve been having here (as well as here and here and here) came to life. Self-distribution. Co-op distribution. DIY marketing and publicity. Tearing down the old and no longer relevant paradigms and asserting our own collective ability to get our films out there.

All of it seeming very very possible after a weekend at the True/False Film Festival.

Before I rave, full disclosure: The “kids”, as I refered to them the other day (and Paul Harrill blogged about), are friends of mine. They’re working in a town that I have super warm feelings for. So sure, take it all with a grain of salt. Better yet, go here and here and here for confirmation from more unbiased observers.

Fact is, these True/False heroes (David Wilson & Paul Sturtz) are my friends because what they are doing is so special, so unique and passionate, that I wanted in. So, in truth (or is it false), the admiration came first.

But no matter.

True/False is the future of film festivals - or it should be.

David and Paul (and their posse of friends and supporters) thought that they could throw a documentary festival in a town of 90,000, that they could bring filmmakers from around the world to the middle of the country, that they could convince the community to support their vision. They believed in something special, which, by all rights, should have been almost impossible. But no...

From local reporter/blogger Pete Bland:

     In only its third year of existence, the True/False
     Film Festival's ticket sales rocketed past the 10,000
     mark, reaching 10,600, organizers confirmed. That's
     4,000 more than last year, or, looking at it another
     way, nearly the total amount of seats sold for the
     inaugural event two years ago — 4,200.

     That 61 percent increase in sales from 2005 tops last
     year's 57 percent rise from 2004. The final tally also
     far surpasses organizers' hopes of 8,000.

I'd been wanting to come back to Columbia and experience the festival first hand since it debuted in 2004. And from my experience at the Ragtag in 2003, I expected it to be pretty great. What I didn't quite expect was how refreshing the actual experience would be.

Saturday was a jam-packed day, seeing films that I hadn't caught at previous Sundance festivals. First off was Marc and Nick Francis' Black Gold, an enlighting and thoroughly excellent film about coffee, specifically fair-trade coffee and the need to highlight the plight of those who farm coffee in places like Ethiopia. With an extremely deft and subtle style, the Francis brothers take an issue that we all vaguely know about and create a film that requires/compels us to do something. I'm sitting in a coffee shop in Echo Park right now (there's been an electrical outage all day after some super storms last night) and as I look up at the board I see organic this and vegan that - but the coffee is not "fair trade" (meaning that farmers are paid directly - sometimes through a union or co-operative - and therefore make many many times more money (and we're talking cents here) than they normally do when selling to one of the large coffee companies.

This morning, I was at my favorite coffee chain and picked up their fair trade varietal - and it made me think of a conversation that Nick Francis and I had after seeing his film. When companies sell a "fair trade" coffee, they usually do so for a little bit more than when you buy their regular coffee. And strangely, what they are really saying to you is, "all of our regular coffees are inhumane, but if you'd prefer to drink humane coffee, you should pay a little extra."

Years ago, having all these organic and vegan options at places like the one I am sitting in was unheard of. But because consumers asked for it, gradually more of these types of products emerged. "Fair trade" is only going to come from consumer demand.

But back to the film - brisk, beautifully shot and, at times, really funny (usually at the expense of over-caffienated Americans or Canadians) - Black Gold is like the anti-Super Size Me (and as much as I liked Morgan Spurlock's anti-fast food screed, that's a good thing). It calls on the audience to take action, refusing to fall into easy traps of blame-the-corporation. It also succeeds by covering the Mexico WTO conference of a couple of years back with an eye towards what really goes on at these events (when usually the focus is on protesters and giant puppets and riot police) and how the outcome often hurts both the African continent as well as American taxpayers.

Black Gold is an important and entertaining film that deserves a wide audience.

Next up was last year's Sundance winner for Best Director - Jeff Feuerzeig's The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a beautifully shot and emotionally haunting film about indie legend Daniel Johnston. With an ocean of archival material (audio tapes, super 8, video) created by Johnston himself (his super 8 films rank with the best short films you've seen) and interviews with Johnston's family and close friends, Fueurzeig chronicles both the blossoming of a creative genius and his not-so-slow descent into mental illness. Particularly worthwhile in the film is the heart-wrenching participation of Johnston's parents and the super 16mm cinematography, which captures both the mood and the beauty of the subject and its environment.

Feuerzeig, who a decade ago made the film Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King, participated in the panel on music docs that I moderated on Sunday and is well aware of the pitfalls that greet those who make films about musicians. For one, critics are quick to fall into the stale questions of "If you're a fan of _______, you'll love_____. If you're not a fan, you'll feel _________." But The Devil and Daniel Johnston is more than a film about a musician, it's about how creativity and madness often go hand in hand. One's opinion or knowledge of Daniel Johnston will have nothing to do with the ultimate appreciation of the film, and it should (upon its national release next month) be received as such.

From the Missouri Theater (which, as the festivals largest venue, holds 1200 people) back to the Blue Note, normally mid-Missouri's premiere rock venue (and if you read the Gigantic DVD liner notes, a clear corrupting influence in my youth) but now film theater for the presentation of the festival's only award - the True/False Vision Award - to Kirby Dick, and the screening of his new Sundance sensation This Film is Not Yet Rated.

In his acceptance speech, Dick said that he loved that this was the True/False Fest, because it was, in his opinion, very important to emphasize the "false" of documentaries in how documentary filmmakers shape the "truth" (both through what they include and what they fail to include).

The film itself is a hugely fun investigation of the MPAA's controversial rating system and the way in which the ratings board considers sex (whether the number of pelvic thrusts, a face in orgasmic pleasure or the presence of dicks or pubic hair) to be far more odious and society-harming than gun shots to the head, heads being sliced off, multiple stabbings, et al. It also exposes the ridiculous secrecy that exists around both the ratings board (stacked with parents from the San Fernando Valley), the appeals board (which consists of numerous theater owners, a few distributors - including Fox Searchlight - and two priests) and the woman who runs it all (a registered Republican). Dick hires a private eye and uncovers and names them all in a hilarious and crowd-pleasing sub-plot to his interviews with directors who've done battle (from Kimberly Pierce and Atom Egoyan to John Waters) and side-by-side comparisons of films rated R and films rated NC-17 (often the difference is whether the participants are of the same sex or not).

One thing the film doesn't mention (but should, I think) is that one of the problems with the ratings board is that theater chains will often refuse (as company policy) to screen films rated NC-17, yet they stack the appeals board with their own representatives. This puts the theater chains directly as censors - something the MPAA claims they are loathe to do (the film does nicely rebut this argument).

After This Film is Not Yet Rated, we headed over to the Filmmaker Fete - a wonderful reception between filmmakers and locals. This is the kind of event that is often missing from film festivals and True/False reminded why it's a great event. Audience members were aglow talking about the films they'd seen and filmmakers had a low-key, non-industry chance to mingle with them and with one another.

Following the reception, a bunch of us headed back over to the Blue Note for the first (of what one hopes will be annual) Gimme Truth! - a game show dreamed up by Wilson and Sturtz similar to the panel shows of yesterday (To Tell the Truth, What's My Line, etc.). Three filmmakers (including our old friend Grace Lee) were shown two-minute long short films and then had the chance to quiz the directors as to whether the films were "true" or "false". What seemed like a deceptively simple concept (who wouldn't be able to spot the fakes) turned out to be a real challenge, as many of the most-false seeming films were, in fact, true.

Eugene Hernandez over at Indiewire wrote about this in his True/False recap:

     It's impossible to ignore organizers determination to
     present documentary in an entertaining setting, as
     seen in the Reel Gone Round-up, or with the presence
     of an eclective mix of musicians. But, ultimate proof
     was the launch of the distinctive "Gimme Truth!," a
     lively game show that Sturtz and Wilson designed to
     explore fact and fiction in film. Described as a cross
     between "What's My Line?" and "Truth or
     Consequences,' the live game included three fest
     filmmakers -- Mark Lewis, "Smiling in a War Zone"
     co-director Magnus Mejmar and "The Grace Lee
     Project"'s Grace Lee (a Columbia native) -- in a
     competition to try to determine whether a selection
     of short films made by Columbia locals are real or
     fake. Compete with a colorful game show set, a local
     weatherman as host, audience interaction and prizes,
     the doc game show concept is one that True/False
     should consider syndicating to other fests, or one
     that might even warrant an actual television run.

     The "Gimme Truth!" game show, like the True/False
     Film Festival itself, made for a lively event that cleverly
     engaged festival attendees in an exploration of the ways
     we determine reality and fiction in documentary today.

The last film of the evening was Eugene Jarecki's Sundance winning (Best Documentary 2005) Why We Fight, a provocative and important film about the nation's relationship with the "military industrial complex". This is a term you've no doubt heard, but many will be surprised to learn that it was coined by Republican President (and war hero general) Dwight Eisenhower in his farewell address to the nation - in which he warned Americans to be on guard against the military industrial complex, lest it corrupt the nation. Five decades later, Jarecki shows, through interviews with those on both sides of the Iraq war, how Eisenhower's warning went unheeded and how America may be in danger of destroying itself.

All of these points are extremely important (particularly the connection to Eisenhower, represented here by interviews with his son and granddaughter), but some of the information in the film seems dated. So much has happened in the 13 months since Why We Fight debuted at Sundance 2005, and one is bewildered by Sony Pictures Classics' decision to hold the film all this time before releasing it. Whether they feared a backlash so close to the 2004 election or felt that they needed time to screen at festivals, it seems a real mistake and proves how right Michael Moore was to insist that Fahrenheit 9/11 be in theaters less than two months after its debut at Cannes.

This is particularly disappointing because Eugene Jarecki is the absolute real deal. His Q & A following the film, which kept the standing room only Missouri Theater audience (again one must mention that capacity is 1,200) in awe for more than an hour, was the stuff of legend. As good as Why We Fight is, Jarecki's Q & A was even better. And not in a rabble-rousing, loose with the facts sort-of-way. Entirely centrist, entirely on top of his facts, easy to explain (and not talk down). It was, frankly, an electric performance. If you have the opportunity to see the film where he will be appearing, it's an absolute must-see.

After four films, I was plenty tired, but I still got to eat my favorite pizza with my dear friend Bruce, before heading back up to the Blue Note to see the band Of Montreal, and spend a bit of time at the not-so-secret secret after party before heading back to the hotel.

A definitive post on Sunday's films, parties and panel, along with numerous photos coming as soon as the power returns.

In the meantime, check out Eugene Hernandez's wrap-up of the fest over on Indiewire, as well as his blog recap; Sarah Jo Marks extensive reports at Documentary Insider as well as Pete Bland's excellent coverage on his blog as well as his paper's True/False archive.

Comments

[Paul]

Great post, AJ. Damn, I wish I had been there.

Also, just as clarification for the rest of you, the David (Lowery) and Paul (Harrill - me) that AJ mentions blogging about distro issues are NOT the same David and Paul that AJ mentions as organizers of the True/False festival. Having "David" or "Paul" as your name is not a requirement for discussing said issues. Just ask Sujewa.

[AJ Schnack]

Wow. I hadn't even noticed that. Crazy. Yes, as clarification, the True/False heroes are David Wilson and Paul Sturtz.

As for being there, there's always next year. Plan now!

[Sujewa]

Thanks for the link AJ. Congrats True/Falls, sounds like an excellent event. I believe there is a David/Paul conspiracy in the indie film industry right now. Two sets of David's & Paul's making things happen, what's the likelyhood (sp?) of that? :)

Sujewa
*******

[Sujewa]

Hey AJ,

Yesterday I left a couple of comments at Paul's blog that you may want to consider when writing your next piece on self-distro. Copies of the comments are below my signature. Thanks!

Sujewa
**********

1.
Sujewa Ekanayake Says:
March 1st, 2006 at 9:13 pm
Hey all you film festival veterans,

How will festivals react to the filmmaker selling their DVD at the fest or prior to the fest (mail-order)?

I know Andrew Bujalski sells Mutual Appriciation through mail order AND plays the film at festivals.

Will most festivals not dig the fact that a film is available through mail-order from the filmmaker?

Let me know.

Thanks!

The Sujewa
http://www.wilddiner.com/

2.
Sujewa Ekanayake Says:
March 1st, 2006 at 9:19 pm
AJ,

for yer network of micro-cinemas, keep in mind the one I operate from time to time @ Kensington Row Bookshop in Kensington, MD (15 mins from DC), Capital City Microcinema. I think I’ll buy a projector (kinda cheap @ radio shack) this year & start doing shows more regularly (@ least 1x a month). Coming up at CCM: Kelley Baker on 4/21 Thu, David Lowery, James Johnston in late May.

(btw, it is very weird leaving a message for AJ on Paul’s web site, specially when AJ has a blog & I have his e-mail. oh yeah, I am doing this to provoke thought & discussion by others - not just me, AJ & Paul, got it)

S*u*j*e*w*a

[AJ Schnack]

Sujewa,
Thanks for the comment note, which just arrived in the email via Paul's blog via David's blog via Joe's website via the local Mailboxes Etc. Once I get my head back on after this past week I will have a more thoughtful response...
AJ