True Vision Award

The True Vision Award, our only award, is given annually to a filmmaker (or filmmakers) whose work shows a dedication to the creative advancement of the art of nonfiction filmmaking.

2008 recipient: Alex Gibney

The True/False Film Fest is proud to announce the recipient of the 2008 True Vision Award: Alex Gibney, who has creatively advanced the art of nonfiction filmmaking and built a body of work that reveals new truths about our world within each frame.

It's fitting that, for his latest documentary, Alex Gibney turns his camera on Hunter Thompson, the most famous boundary-bending journalist of the 20th century. Gibney, too, has made it his project to challenge the corruption of contemporary journalism (though in a far more sober, and sobering, way). With network news growing ever more vacuous, and news organizations leaving information gathering to bloggers and other amateurs, Gibney has taken his project in the opposite direction, crafting long-form investigative documentaries that demonstrate integrity, imagination and, above all, guts. And they remind us that the best muckraking is edge-of-your-seat entertaining. The painstakingly researched, Oscar-nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) traveled deep where mainstream reporters fear to tread, suggesting that unbridled capitalism has sent our moral compass out of whack. Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side (2007), another Oscar nominee, grapples head-on with the abuses at Abu Ghraib, connecting the dots between reckless, arrogant American policy and the unconscionable behavior of our troops abroad. Gonzo keeps the heat on, using Thompson's story as a prism through which to examine the absurdities of American culture. In addition to his own achievements, Gibney is a catalyst in nonfiction filmmaking, producing films for Eugene Jarecki (Trials of Henry Kissinger), Marc Levin (Mr. Lightning) and Antoine Fuqua (Lightning in a Bottle), along with segments of the landmark PBS series The Blues.

Alex will be screening both Gonzo and Taxi to the Dark Side at the fest. The True Vision Award will be presented before Gonzo, Saturday, Mar. 1, 6:30pm at the Blue Note.

It is an honor to bestow this year's True Vision Award to one of America's essential filmmaker-journalists. (JS)

The True Vision Award winner is presented with an original bronze sculpture, created by nationally known Columbia artist Larry Young, and donated by the artist to the festival. For more information about Mr. Young's work, visit his website or contact him directly at Larry Young Sculpture, 8700 N. Millsite, Columbia, MO 65201; (573)449-6810.

Previous True Vision Award winners

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