Submissions for the 2025 True/False Film Festival are open until November 1st. This is a great opportunity for nonfiction filmmakers to showcase their work on an international scale!
Presented over one weekend in Columbia, Missouri, USA, the Festival showcases approximately 40 feature-length and 25 short films. Work produced in 2024 and 2024 is prioritized for selections, and filmmaker attendance is required for feature-length selections.
More information from the Festival:
True/False is a film festival in Columbia, Missouri, USA which strives to celebrate the best of international nonfiction. We are interested in authored work with a clear filmmaking vision and formal intention. When we watch films, we approach them as art. We open ourselves up to the sensorial and intellectual attributes of films, perking up when those elements truly surprise, challenge, and/or stimulate us, while also grappling with the ethical framework they present. We are skeptical of films that present humans in flat, simplistic ways, e.g. as experts, archetypes, or evidence, as well as films that reinforce traditional power structures, hateful, or hurtful stereotypes. We value imagination, risk-taking, and sensitivity. The artform we engage with is extremely young and we’re eager to encounter work that reveals new ways for us to instigate, to heal, to see and hear. A note on “creative nonfiction,” “docu-fiction,” and “hybrids”: Films are often slotted into two categories – documentary and fiction – we believe that every film falls somewhere in between.
We generally consider work that has been produced within a year of the festival i.e. for the 2025 Fest, we will prioritize work from 2024 and 2025.
Deadlines are as follows:
Regular deadline: November 1; features $50 (*students: $35), shorts $30 (students: $20)
Late deadline: December 4; features $95 (students: $70), shorts $60 (students: $45)
Features are defined as 40 minutes and above, shorts as less than 40 minutes.
Filmmakers will be notified by early February.
