True/False 2026: “Pinball,” “What Comes from Sitting in Silence,” “To Hold a Mountain”

The True/False Film Fest— the esteemed non-fiction film festival held annually in Columbia, Missouri— always excels at elevating global perspectives that most Americans (let alone Midwesterners) aren’t exposed to. The following three films— the world premieres Pinball and What Comes From Sitting in Silence in addition to the recent Sundance premiere To Hold a Mountain— […]

True/False 2026: “A Place of Absence”

Halfway through her lyrical documentary A Place of Absence, director Marialuisa Ernst claims that ambiguous loss is the worst kind of suffering. The void your missing loved one leaves behind weighs you down. It’s a weight that only becomes heavier by the lack of answers or closure. But it’s the admirable women who push through […]

True/False 2026: “Landscapes of Memory”

Leah Galant’s slippery and sobering documentary Landscapes of Memory begins with two things: her father, and her pending move to Germany, where she intends to study Holocaust memory. Her dad, Allen, is the primary keeper of their family’s history; his parents— Galant’s grandparents— were Holocaust survivors, and few physical documents of their past remain. The […]

True/False 2026: “Who Moves America”

The title of Who Moves America, Yael Bridges’ galvanizing crowd-pleaser, poses the film’s central thesis statement with succinct clarity: that the world runs on the labor of the most underpaid and undervalued workers, whose inability to walk away from a consistent, decently paying job— regardless of the long hours and inhumane working conditions— keeps them […]

True/False 2026: “The Queen and the Smokehouse”

Łeba, the seaside resort town situated in northern Poland, is known for its verdant landscapes and sunny beaches, which attract 80,000 tourists every summer. Only around 1500 residents remain in the off-season, however. They’re the folks who run the many attractions that crowd the shoreline: the mock pirate ship that transports visitors back and forth, […]

True/False 2025: “Seeds,” “Deaf President Now!,” “The Track”

Inspiring stories make great fodder for documentaries, and such is the case with the following three films that screened at the 2025 True/False Film Festival: Seeds, a gorgeous and moving portrait of Black farmers in the American South, and Deaf President Now!, a rousing tale of student protest told through a bounty of archival footage, […]

True/False 2025: “The Wolves Always Come at Night,” “The Silence of My Hands,” “Make It Look Real”

Image are an integral part of any movie, but particularly the following three films that screened at the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri this past week. The Wolves Always Come at Night blends documentary with fiction to craft a haunting and contemplative portrait of a Mongolian family’s past and present lives. The Silence of […]

True/False 2025: “Wishing on a Star”

It’s like something out of a fairytale: the tall tower of a rustic Italian castle framed against a sunny sky. Suddenly, a chair flies out of an open window, crashing to the ground below. Other objects follow: more chairs, and other bits of furniture and knickknacks. Accented by a breezy, horn-driven score, this opening sequence […]

True/False 2025: “Writing Hawa,” “Requiem for a Tribe,” “A Want in Her”

Among the many reasons why the True/False Film Festival, Columbia, Missouri’s annual celebration of the documentary form, is my favorite festival to attend is that it highlights fresh (and frequently side-lined) perspectives. The three films I’ve written about below— Writing Hawa, Requiem for a Tribe, and A Want in Her— all swirl around topics of […]

True/False 2025: “How Deep is Your Love”

It’s funny that so many people are fascinated— perhaps even obsessed— with the notion of looking to the stars to locate life beyond Earth, when 70 percent of our planet is covered with water, the majority of which remains untouched and unseen by humans. That may not be the case for long, however: the alien-like […]