True/False Film Fest kicks off, will last four days in Downtown Columbia
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The True/False Film Fest begins Thursday in Downtown Columbia and will run through Sunday.
Festival organizers are currently setting up in Downtown Columbia and a "kickoff concert" will be Wednesday night at Eastside Tavern. Events will be hosted at various locations Downtown over the weekend.
According to the festival's website, True/False offers "a heightened long weekend of creative placemaking in which filmmakers, artists, musicians and others remake the mid-sized college to of Columbia, Missouri, into a one-of-a-kind utopia."
The event offers question-and-answer session with filmmakers following each screening, as well as a panel discussions.
The event brings in thousands of visitors to the Columbia area from all around the world.
"I mean, it is almost impossible to count the ways that festivals like ours and other major art organizations impact the area," Ragtag Film Society Co-Custodia Arin Liberman said.
Liberman said in a 2016 study conducted by the Columbia Convention and Vistors Bureau the festival brought in close to $2.2 million to the area.
"Obviously you know, that's a few years old, and we've been through a pandemic," Liberman said. "So I think we are really trying to regrow and get back up to, you know, the numbers of both in-town and traveling attendees to really continue to have a major financial impact."
The festival will close down one block in Downtown Columbia between Ninth, Elm and Locust streets.
"It's the only block that we actually have closed off for most of the festival," Liberman said. "I would recommend people, you know, stay away as far as parking around that block."
There will be a temporary closure for a parade, as well, on Friday night.
"We start up at the Boone County Courthouse (for the parade) and we come down Walnut (Street) and then down Ninth Street and right here, outside the Missouri Theater," Liberman said.
Liberman said they will have venue management staff trained in crowd management. She said staff know what to do in case of an emergency.
"We go through crowd management training. We have emergency procedures that we train all the team on to be able to handle whatever kind of emergency might come up that we can reasonably control," Liberman said. "Obviously, one of the first things to do in any kind of extreme situation is just to call 911.
"But, we have a really, really robust communication system so that you know, all of the relevant staff that has the relevant expertise to handle issues can be contacted quickly."
Tickets and passes are on sale now.
