Seven Documentaries Not to Miss in 2016

Bilge EbiriFilm

Kate Plays Christine: the actress Kate Lyn Sheil is shown deep in preparations to play the part of Christine ChubbuckKate Plays Christine: the actress Kate Lyn Sheil is shown deep in preparations to play the part of Christine Chubbuck, the Sarasota, Florida, TV newscaster who in 1974 shot herself on camera to protest her station’s growing obsession with violence and sensationalism.; Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute

The 13th annual True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri is not a particularly huge festival — held over four days, it screens around 40 features — but its profile has risen substantially over the past few years. It may not be quite as comprehensive as Doc NYC, AFI Docs in Washington, D.C., or HotDocs in Toronto, but the small-town setting, unorthodox screening venues and “thousand-plus” army of cheerful volunteers give it personality.

True/False’s programmers take the nonfiction form very seriously. As their event’s name suggests, they like movies that transform, that push at the boundaries of what is real and what is artifice. Here are seven films screened there this year that should be on your list for 2016.

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