Branson documentary unspools stage facade

After five years and hundreds of hours of footage aimed at penetrating Branson’s fiercely guarded barrier, filmmakers A.J. Schnack and David Wilson plan to distribute their documentary, “We Always Lie to Strangers,” to national audiences in 2014.

By following four families that live and work in the southwest Missouri tourist town of 10,000, the filmmakers uncover how Branson dealt with the economic recession, an aging target audience and gay stage performers who live a version of “don’t ask, don’t tell” among their conservative neighbors, according to Associated Press reports.

The film’s release made Missouri tourism officials uneasy. After all, dubbed “the live music show capital of the world,” Branson has 50 theaters, 100 shows and nearly 65,000 seats – more than Broadway boasts – helping to pull in some 7 million visitors annually.

"We were very, very nervous about the final product," said Missouri Tourism Director Katie Steele Danner, a former Branson resident who attended a November screening at the St. Louis International Film Festival.

Agreeing to be followed in the film were the Presley theater family, including Branson mayor Raeanne Presley; the Lennons of the Lawrence Welk Show; the Tinocos, who have self-financed a struggling variety show; and Chip Holderman, a performer who is a single dad and gay.

“We Always Lie to Strangers” debuted in March at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Schnack and Wilson, both Midwesterners, have showed the documentary at a dozen other screenings throughout the year, including in New York City and Toronto.

As the title implies, the filmmaker’s website quotes one of the subjects in the film: “Branson seems very simplistic on the outside, like you could paint it in a dozen sentences. I think you’ll find the surface truth doesn’t match the actuality.”
 
Click here to view the teaser.

Read more from the Associated Press.