For the first time in 17 years, the True/False Film Fest will take place without any of its original directors. Instead, three new faces will lead the fest forward as it takes its first steps out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The film fest, founded in 2004 by David Wilson and Paul Sturtz as a showcase for documentary films, attracts filmmakers and lovers from across the world to mid-Missouri.
The Ragtag Film Society introduced three new directors to its team in August to lead both the film fest and Ragtag Cinema. Faramola Shonekan will be the community partnership and education director, Chloe Trayner will take on the position of artistic director and Eric Allen Hatch will fulfill the role of music director and film programmer.
Faramola Shonekan is a 2020 MU graduate and Mark Twain Fellow. She comes to Ragtag straight from a year at the University of Oxford, where she received her Master’s degree in global and imperial history.
Shonekan said she came back to Columbia and started working for Ragtag because she wanted to give back to the Columbia community.
“I started to realize that I had a yearning to work with people, and to work with communities and ultimately just in the social justice realm,” Shonekan said. “The best [way] to do that to me is [through] an art form and through media.”
Shonekan only tangentially experienced the opportunities offered by Ragtag during her time at MU. As a student athlete for MU’s track and field and cross country teams, most of her life as an undergraduate was spent focusing on athletics.
In addition to her athletic pursuits, Shonekan is a huge reader and lover of media. She worked at Skylark Bookshop during her undergraduate years and has her own blog about books called Penda & Freeman, dedicated to discussion of the intersection between media and politics.
Now back in Columbia, Shonekan said she is ready to fully engage herself in the city’s art spaces and promote media literacy and inclusivity between Ragtag and various communities.
“This is sort of my cultural Columbia renaissance into the art side of Columbia,” Shonekan said. “I want to follow the community’s lead, I want to follow students’ lead [and] I want to follow educators’ lead — because they’re the ones that know their spaces.”
Chloe Trayner is a London-based film and events programmer. She is the former festival director of London’s Open City Documentary Festival and founder of the Assembly Documentary Development Lab, an organization that works to support filmmakers financially.
Trayner studied film at the University of Leeds, but realized after graduating that she didn’t want to make films herself. Her soft spot for nonfiction film led her to the role of film programmer.
“I always want to be in dialogue with filmmakers to make sure that the spaces that I’m making are actually useful for them,” Trayner said.
Trayner wants her work to help filmmakers feel empowered. She said she feels that documentary is important because it connects audiences to the world so that they can understand it with more empathy.
Trayner said she is honored to build upon the existing legacy of the True/False Film Fest to expand upon her own goals.
“It’s really incredible to see an organization that’s willing to move with change and to evolve and to embrace new things,” Trayner said. “It’s definitely internally feeling like a really positive step forward.”
She said the first hurdle for the new team is moving the program back indoors and navigating COVID-19 restrictions. As a long-term goal, they look to introduce new artist support programs to the festival.
Trayner said she plans to move to Columbia after obtaining a work visa and looks forward to experiencing life abroad.
“When I was younger, I definitely think I watched one too many American films,” Trayner said. “If you see me walking around with my headphones in, I will be pretending that I’m in a film.”
Eric Allen Hatch will make his mark on Ragtag with his extensive music experience. He is the former director of the Maryland Film Festival and co-founder of the nonprofit video library Beyond Video. He has also collaborated with a number of musicians, including Beach House, Dan Deacon and Animal Collective.
Hatch became a member of what he calls the “DIY community” in Baltimore directly out of his undergraduate studies at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. He soon became a fan of experimental music and culture and co-founded The Red Room, which hosts an annual, highly-acclaimed improvised music festival.
Hatch said his favorite work in his career was his early years with the Maryland Film Festival, because he felt that his team was successful at advocating for filmmakers.
The film festival, which Hatch said typically programs 50 films a year, features a lot of documentary work. As director, Hatch had the opportunity to program now-famous filmmakers before they hit their stride, such as “Little Women” director Greta Gerwig.
Hatch wants to use his expertise to emphasize the connection between music and film at the True/False Film Fest. He said he aims to support artists by featuring music in creative ways and plans to continue the already existing tradition of featuring musicians during waiting periods before films begin.
“The use of that time where people are being seated to feature yet another artist … I think that’s really important,” Hatch said.
Hatch said he sees the film fest as an expressive outlet that blurs the line between narrative and fiction filmmaking and offers a perspective that other festivals don’t. He anticipates working with current programmer Amir George to help orientate himself at Ragtag.
“[True/False Film Fest is] boosting voices that aren’t already being celebrated,” Hatch said.
In addition to George, the new directors will join current programmer Ted Rogers to direct Ragtag Cinema and the 19th annual True/False Film Fest on March 3-6, 2022.
Edited by Shannon Worley | sworley@themaneater.com