Content Warning: This story contains crude humor, mentions of alcohol and brief jokes about genitalia. 

First and foremost, and for those not tapped in, “Gimme Truth!” is an annual documentary game show held as part of the True/False Film Fest at The Blue Note. The “boozy event” has been hosted by Chicago-based comedian and “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me!” regular, Brian Babylon, since 2017. The show embodies the festival’s name: “True/False.” 

The nighttime event, held on March 2 at 10:00 p.m., featured eight outlandish documentary-style short films by local filmmakers which may or may not be true. A panel of guest judges, each of whom directed a film shown at the festival, is tasked with determining whether each film’s central premise is true, or false.

Following the showing of each short, its director came up on stage for a friendly interrogation. Each judge and Babylon were given an opportunity to ask a single question to determine the validity of the film. 

“It can’t be one question that has two parts, fuck that,” Babylon said. “We don’t play that here.”

Following the questioning and a vote-by-cheer from the audience, the judges held up paddles with a “T” on one side and an “F” on the other. After all films were shown, judges deliberated to determine the three best films of the evening.

This year, the judges sitting behind the colorful, puffy podium were Arun Bhattarai, co-director of “Agent of Happiness,” who was drinking gin; Armel Hostiou, French director of “The Other Profile,” who was drinking “American Wine” and Jazmin Jones, director of “Seeking Mavis Beacon,” who had a mixed drink. With all parties in good spirits, the show began.

“Yo! What is all that chit-chat?” Babylon asked the crowd. “Don’t have me go Sam Jackson on you all. Be quiet and respectful, hush. Hush, Hush, Hush, thank you very much.”

‘Being Assertive’

The first film of the night was “Being Assertive,” directed by Steven Moerschel. The film follows a character named Jack who is so unassertive that he finds himself agreeing to do his laundry at a roommate’s friend’s house instead of going to his usual 6-quarter-per-wash laundromat. Jack goes through this even though he just wanted to go to his normal place. 

This decision results in lots of unnecessary stress and eventually in Jack throwing his clothes onto the roof of his home to retrieve them through the window so he can avoid explaining to his roommate’s friend that he dried them at his usual place instead of at his friend’s.

If that seems confusing, the judges’ questions only made things more confusing. Important information gained from the questioning was that Moerschel and Jack both skateboard, but separately, and that Jack’s name is not actually Jack. This information put into doubt the factual nature of the film. As the crowd cheered for false, all three judges raised a “false” paddle. 

This was a misstep and a valuable lesson to the judges. The film turned out to be true, and the character’s real name was revealed to be John.

‘Staged Fright’

This film, directed by Cat Meagher, follows a character named Liz who refuses to work in traditional theaters because a psychic told her years earlier that something terrible would happen if she did.

This film is laden with ominous music and mentions of actors’ extreme superstition. After years of working in non-traditional theaters, Liz decided to do a traditional production at the Missouri Theatre. “And then … the pandemic hit,” Liz said, and the psychic was deemed prophetic. 

“She went to some lady who does witchcraft — Bible says you don’t do that — but she did it,” Babylon said. “[The psychic] said, like that Whoopi Goldberg character, ‘Girl, you in danger.’”

Meagher was asked during the questioning about the choice of putting silly ominous music over the entire documentary. She dodged responsibility, attributing the decision to her editor. 

Following questions, judges Bhattarai and Hostiou voted “false” while Jones voted “true.” Those who voted “false” were affirmed as the film was revealed to be untrue, which the “staged” title hints at.

‘Resting Place’

One of the more bizarre shorts of the night, “Resting Place” by Meredith Ludwig, is about a couple who permit people to bury their pets — and later human relatives — on the couple’s property for low, low costs. 

The film itself looks like a low-quality, early 2000s YouTube video shot on a home video recorder. The central characters — a squeaky-voiced, mutton-chopped man named Charles and his wife, Holly — provide their woodland property, but do not provide additional help or services for burials. 

“They typically really like it best if you [the customer] do all the work,” Ludwig said of the couple during questioning.

The short ended with a screen reading: “Your Resting Place is Here.” Then Ludwig came up on stage wearing a fedora, which Babylon frequently referred to as a “Michael Jackson hat.” 

During the questioning, Ludwig also divulged that the couple would be holding a human burial the next day, including a small amount of catering, the rental of a back-hoe and the supplying of flowers. 

“This just sounds like a ‘Law and Order’ episode that starts off here at True/False,” Babylon said.

After the questioning, Hostiou voted the short as true, while his fellow judges deemed it false. The majority won, as the film was revealed to be false.

‘My Secret Santa Brownies Story’

This film, composed entirely of stock videos and directed by Kris Wingo, is set during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the film, Wingo participates in a virtual Secret Santa gift exchange for work. Each person was supposed to have a gift mailed to them for the event, but when the day came around, Wingo hadn’t received his. Kris’s package had been sent to the wrong address by his Secret Santa, Laura. 

The next day, Laura goes to the address where it had been accidentally delivered to pick up the present — a gift certificate and a plate of brownies. The man at the wrong address handed Laura the gift certificate but when she asked where the brownies were, he said he had already eaten them. 

The film featured many comical text insertions over the stock video, including one that read, “(not actually me),” over a video of a stock image man talking.  

Jones pointed out the oddity of having a Secret Santa exchange during the pandemic. At one point during the questioning, an audience member shouted, “Lies!” Despite this, two of the three judges voted “true,” and they were proved correct.

‘Cinéma Vérité Mathématique’

This film follows its director, Steven Senger, through multiple recordings of him teaching mathematics to other individuals. The nerdy terminology used by the filmmaker and his pupils sounds largely made up and even includes on-screen text reading, “Can you draw pretty pictures?” next to seemingly non-scientific drawings and equations. The film also featured Senger’s weiner dogs, Taco and Guero, who elicited laughter from the audience.

When Senger attempted to explain the mathematical concept they were working on in the short film, the judges and audience seemed to go blank as a result of the seemingly foreign sounding language of mathematics. 

“We mathematicians are not well represented in media,” Senger said in response to the questioning. “[We are] seen as outsiders, or it is oversimplified to where there’s no real content, it’s just flashing graphics. I wanted you to see something raw.”

In the end, only Hostiou raised a paddle with a “T” marked on it. After the big reveal, Hostiou was the only judge with the correct answer: “true.”

‘WildNFocus’

This film, directed by Emily Gray and Reese Pohlman, follows Drew Hodge, an amateur wildlife photographer. During the film, Hodge, who is dressed in a red and black lumberjack flannel, is given ample opportunity to make a fool of himself. 

As images of different animals Hodge claims to have photographed come on screen, Hodge misnames each of them, labeling the image of an elk as a “moose” and the image of a moose as an “elk.” Hodge is recorded crawling, rolling and jumping around on the ground while holding an amateur-level camera. 

“Was he trying to be a nature photographer or was that just some dude doing fake Al-Qaeda training with a camera?” Babylon asked, referring to Hodge’s military-style crawling in the film.

When asked why Hodge was so hyperactive, Gray said that she believed he was dropped as a child, not in a literal sense, but that it was “his personality.” 

Babylon pointed out that there was an African antelope in one of the images in the film, and Jones inquired where the images in the film were from. Gray said in response, “Yeah, I mean, he provided the photos. I don’t know where he got them … but he provided them.” 

With this less-than-confident answer regarding the truthfulness of the film, the judges were left to vote two-to-one “false.” They would once again be wrong as the short was revealed to be true.

‘Housekeeping’

“Housekeeping,” directed by Carter Klusmeyer, is about Cooper. Cooper is a friend of the director who is paid regularly by Klusmeyer and his roommates to clean their apartment. 

In the film, Cooper is seen stacking cups, cleaning up a table and sweeping, as well as stealing belongings. The director notes Cooper’s clumsiness as he knocks over a bunch of belongings, and also notes that Cooper probably wasn’t comfortable about the filming given the way he awkwardly glances at the camera. 

“I really don’t know what to believe at this stage of the evening,” Jones said before beginning her questioning.

During the questioning, Klusmeyer explained the necessity of the roommates paying their friend Cooper — who they have known since high school — to clean the apartment. Each of the roommates is very busy, one is in Marching Mizzou and the other roommate is a self titled “gamer,” which Klusmeyer translated to: “I don’t want to clean things.” 

Babylon was especially suspicious of the cup stacking, which he deemed to be “fake as fuck.” However, the judges all voted “true,” and they were all wrong as the film was revealed to be false. 

‘My Sims 4 Wife’

One of the weirder films of the evening, “My Sims 4 Wife,” directed by Cody Walden, follows Walden as he develops a fictional relationship with a character in the video game Sims 4. Walden’s fat, bald Sims 4 character meets a conventionally attractive female sim at a fiction bar where his character proposes and marries the female sim. 

They move into a fictional $15 million mega-mansion together and have three fictional children named Dragonslayer69, XD142 and Phil. One day, Phil accidentally burns the house down, and Walden’s fictional wife dies in the blaze. But Walden said that it was okay because he had found a new wife at the bar.

After Walden went on stage for questioning, it was revealed that Walden was married to his Ssim wife for five days. The judges, it would seem, did not understand that other characters in the Sims world are not controlled by another person on the internet, but instead are non-player characters.

Regardless of their misunderstanding, all the judges voted correctly, “true.”

Deliberation and ‘D*ck Measuring Contest’

After the eight featured short films were shown, the judges were given time to deliberate which films would take the top three spots. During the interval, the short film “D*ck Measuring Contest,” directed by Leeanne Lowry and Josh Boyer, was shown. 

The film follows two female duck farmers who want to make a competition for local duck farmers at the Missouri Theatre. When they get to the theater there are no ducks, just a group of men waiting in the seats. 

When the farmers asked the men where their ducks were, one of the men stood up and said, “Respectfully, ma’am, I’m here to have my dick measured.” The farmers went ahead and measured and, in the film, they have held the event annually ever since. 

Following the short film, Babylon went on stage to do a small comedy set, providing the judges with more deliberation time. Babylon’s jokes ranged from mocking European body odor and crime to a story about an Instacart order where Babylon ordered condoms but received a pregnancy test in replacement. Babylon even pitched a plot for a tampon commercial where he got the audience to chant “Tampax.”

Results

The 2024 Gimme Truth! winner was the film “Resting Place” and its director Ludwig. The second place runner-up was “Housekeeping” and its director Klusmeyer, and in third was “My Sims 4 Wife” and its director Walden. 

Winners received “An Amazingly Awesome Handmade Trophy Sculpture” by artist Michael Marcum as well as 2025 True/False passes, among other prizes.

And with that, the night of laughing and short films was concluded. The audience went home, having lived through an example of film’s greatest aspect: collective experience. 

Edited by Annie Goldman | agoldman@themaneater.com

Copy Edited by Briana Iordan | biordan@themaneater.com

Edited by Scout Hudson | shudson@themaneater.com