‘Which Way is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington’ documents photojournalist, need for survival training
A film from the True/False Film Festival is showing on HBO. By Blake Becker
‘Secret Screening Red’ shows political truth through art
I fell in love with the Picturehouse Theatre the moment I walked in the door. On both sides of the room were long white projectors playing videos of people walking on screen, doing something random, and then walking back off. The videos on the walls made for an entertaining wait until the film began. Vladimir [...]
‘Twenty Feet From Stardom’ entrances with picture of Motown backup singers
You’ve heard their voices, but never their names. You’ve recognized their trills, but never their talent. You’ve heard their souls, but never their stories. They are the backup singers on hundreds of famous records. They support the names in flashing lights, from Mick Jagger to Sting, Bruce Springsteen to Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles to Michael [...]
‘I Am Breathing’ beautifully depicts life’s last moments
I can’t cry when I’m sad. No matter how tragic a movie is, no matter how much I want to cry, I can’t, which just ends up making me emotionally exhausted. And I Am Breathing is one of the most beautifully tragic films I’ve seen. It tells the story of a man named Neil Platt, [...]
‘Dirty Wars’ presents chilling perspective to U.S. war on terror
Dirty Wars, directed by Richard Rowley, follows the intricate story of war journalist Jeremy Scahill through his investigation into an unnecessary U.S. military raid on an innocent civilian household in Gardez, Afghanistan that left children, men and pregnant women dead with no reason or explanation. Rowley finds that this incident is just the tip of the iceberg in an organization of [...]
True/False Film Festival sends message of empathy
It’s clear when you look at me that I’m a True/False virgin. First of all, I look lost. I’m turning around in circles, checking my phone and my pass, standing on tip-toes to see over the crowd. I get trapped in a sea of chattering people and have a hard time keeping track of my [...]
Signs that T/F is here
Rarely, does an entire city rally around one event so strongly. Here are just a few (of many, many more) signs that True/False Film Festival is in town. Photos by Maria Kalaitzandonakes
‘The Moo Man’ humanizes heifers
On a little dairy farm in Sussix, England Andy Heathcote provides a quiet look into the farmer Stephen Hook’s life, and more uniquely, the life of his cows. Here, at Hook and Son’s Farm, Heathcote spent three years filming the cows and finding that “cows have so much character.” The movie, less focused on the [...]
‘After Tiller’ expository but not provocative
After Tiller is eye-opening, bringing to attention the harsh controversy, ethical considerations and colossal challenges of late-term abortions. While many define themselves as pro-choice or pro-life, few consider third term abortions in that debate. In fact, just four doctors in the nation are willing to provide these late-term abortions. After Tiller, appropriately titled for the [...]
‘Who Is Dayani Cristal?’ tells tale of migrants
Who Is Dayani Cristal? is a documentary that is simultaneously important and unimportant. While this may seem contradictory I don’t think it is because documentaries have two absolute catagories – the Important Documentaries that cover Important Topics with numerous talking heads and the human touch of a machine, and the unimportant documentaries that cover [...]
‘The Act of Killing’ reflects haunting power of documentaries
The Act of Killing, as its title suggests, is an intense film. It’s powerful, thought-provoking, thought-consuming, even disturbing. You need a period of time to recover from it afterwards. In the start, though, it’s just strange. The entire premise of the documentary is about ‘gangsters’ who carried out genocide 40 years ago, wiping suspected Communists [...]
‘Manhunt’ examines the search for Osama bin Laden
Before I saw the Oscar nominated Zero Dark Thirty in January, I knew nothing about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The film gave insight into the works of the Central Intelligence Agency and the chase after a man that much of the world wanted to see captured and killed. But it was only after [...]
‘Blackfish’ teaches needed lesson
Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Blackfish is one of the most important documentaries I’ve seen in the past five years. It’s a film every animal lover should see, and one that drastically alters any happy childhood memories you might have of Seaworld and Shamu. The documentary opens with a stark black screen interspersed with clips of swimming captive killer whales. [...]
‘The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear’ confuses, leaves viewers with questions
The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear by Tinatin Gurchiani. Just hearing the name of the film piqued my interest. I wanted to see what it was about, who was in it, if there really was a machine that made things disappear. After reading the short summary on the True/False website, I found out that the documentary was [...]
‘The village at the end of the world’ captures true essence of Niaqornat
Sarah Gavron’s film, “Village at the End of the World,” surprised me. I went in expecting either a climate change frenzy film or a technology is ruining our lives rant. And Gavron did neither of those. She achieved something much harder than that — she told a normal tale. She told the story of Niaqornat, [...]
Quirky True Life Run proves cold yet satisfying
Music by Lizzie and Neal Wright recorded live at the True Life Run. Video by Urmila Kutikkad At 8:30 a.m. as the gray sky was just beginning to lighten, a crowd of runners already congregated at Flat Branch Park. The 50-or-so runners were pinning their numbers onto their shirts, pulling the free True/False T-shirts over their [...]
The show must go on
T/F gives new meaning to “the show must go on.” This skill of combining innovative thinking and just plan common sense in the most frustrating of circumstances is how, somehow, they pull this festival off. These are my 8 favorite stories so far. 8- When a director couldn’t show up because of a family emergency, [...]
Film paints amazing portrait of two men worlds apart
At first glance, “The Captain and His Pirate” could be a swashbuckling film, its name conjuring images of romance and intrigue. And to an extent it is — there is combat on the high seas, a hostage crisis, bullets and betrayals and close shaves. But to say that “The Captain And His Pirate” is a [...]
‘Stories We Tell’ finds truth in overlapping tales
Feature films are, if nothing else, purposeful. Unnecessary scenes are edited out, plopped on an extras disc and sold in special editions of the DVD release. Superfluous details don’t make the cut, and extra characters are kept to a minimum. Feature films, whether they are Hollywood or Lifetime, are efficient productions. Life, though, is not [...]
‘Reality Bites’ illustrates flavor of Columbia
As I stood anxiously outside of the Missouri Theater, awaiting the doors to open for the annual “reality bites” True/False Film event, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. For someone who isn’t a fan of cold weather or large crowds, jittering in the 31 degree chill of a snowy midwest winter amongst masses of [...]
By Anna WrightMarch 2, 2013
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