For one long weekend every year, Abbi Brown gets to unleash her inner Queen. For the last 12 years, he has volunteered for the True/False Film Festival, an annual documentary fest that transforms Columbia into a utopia of cinema, art, and music, starting in various positions until she decided to take on the role of a True/False Queen. The film fest royalty are the “mobile, flamboyant information stations” that wrangle guests and manage questions at every event venue. Queens craft their costumes – whether glittering, bedazzled princess dresses or handmade superhero suits – to match the confident demeanor needed for the job. Brown, a typically introverted university librarian that dresses in a uniform of flowy black clothes, spends months assembling her costume. After donning layer upon layer of crinoline skirts, applying a full face of makeup, fastening a wig as high as the heavens, and a few finishing rhinestones is the transformation of a True/False Queen.
Directed by Maya Bell
Assistant Produced by Maddie McMillen
Cinematography by Maya Bell and Maddie McMillen
Edited by Hunter Pendelton and Maya Bell