Based on advanced buzz out of film festivals last year director Sarah Polley‘s new documentary Stories We Tell will be a definite contender for a Best Documentary nomination at the 2014 Oscars and today Roadside Attractions released the first trailer.
Here’s the story:
In this inspired, genre-twisting new film, Oscar®-nominated writer/director Sarah Polley discovers that the truth depends on who’s telling it. Polley is both filmmaker and detective as she investigates the secrets kept by a family of storytellers. She playfully interviews and interrogates a cast of characters of varying reliability, eliciting refreshingly candid, yet mostly contradictory, answers to the same questions. As each relates their version of the family mythology, present-day recollections shift into nostalgia-tinged glimpses of their mother, who departed too soon, leaving a trail of unanswered questions. Polley unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: always complicated, warmly messy and fiercely loving. Stories We Tell explores the elusive nature of truth and memory, but at its core is a deeply personal film about how our narratives shape and define us as individuals and families, all interconnecting to paint a profound, funny and poignant picture of the larger human story.
Roadside will release the film into New York theaters on May 10 and in Los Angeles and select cities on May 17. Depending on the response this may be one many will have to find on iTunes or Netflix, but based on what I’ve heard it’s definitely worth seeking out.
Check out the trailer below and for a few additional photos from the film, which I just uploaded, click here.