NFB Collection
Las historias que contamos
20121 h 48 min 30 secFilm: Documentary
Direction: Sarah Polley
Production: Anita LeeSilva Basmajian
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada and developed with the assistance of the CFC-NFB Documentary Program.
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.
Availability
Other versions
Subject categories
- Film and Video Arts > DocumentaryWomen
- Media Education > Documentary Film
- Family Studies/Home Economics > Family Diversity and Challenges
- Health/Personal Development > Healthy Relationships
Credits
- director
- Sarah Polley
- producer
- Anita Lee
- executive producer
- Silva Basmajian
Awards
- Rogers Best Canadian Film AwardToronto Film Critics Association Awards
- Allan King Documentary AwardToronto Film Critics Association Awards
- Special Mention for the "Small Stamp" for the Best Film by a filmmaker below the age of 35ZagrebDox
- Focus Grand Prize- with a cash prize of $5000 and $2500 worth of plane tickets from Air FranceFestival du nouveau cinéma
- Best Documentary FilmInternational Film Festival
- Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary) AwardNY Film Critics Circle
- Special Jury Prize- with a $50 000 cash prizeFilm Festival
- Documentary ScreenplayWriters Guild of America
- Best Documentary Film for 2013International Cinephile Society
- Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary AwardCanadian Screen Awards
- Stefan Jarl International Documentary AwardTEMPO Documentary Festival