This Year's Ebert Fellows Reflect on the 2026 True/False Film Festival

A documentary filmmaker emphasizes rejecting commercial filmmaking models to create films that address real conditions. The filmmaker warns that focusing on one professor, student, or situation can alienate the suffering of others experiencing similar circumstances. A documentary premiered at a major non-fiction film festival and generated strong attention and resistance. The film centers on New College of Florida, a public liberal arts school in Sarasota, and how a reactionary government disrupted the school before the second coming of Trump. In 2023, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis targeted the school for a permanent makeover, removing leadership and replacing trustees. Campus gardens, Gender Studies courses, and the Title IX office were eliminated, while community members, professors, and students spoke out and became narrative threads.

"“To really make a film like this, you have to ignore every commercial model that we're sold.” Filmmaker Patrick Bresnan, whose documentary “First They Came for My College” tells a lot more than one story, says this as I hurry after him, recording our walk-and-talk down the streets of Columbus, Missouri."

"“In these situations,” he says, “when you focus on one professor or one student or one situation, you alienate the suffering of all the other people who are going through it. You unfortunately fail in what you're trying to do.”"

"At the True/False Film Festival, which took place in March, “First They Came for My College” generated a buzz in the air and a distinct current of resistance in those who were gripped by the world premiere. Director Bresnan's film is about New College of Florida, a public liberal arts school in conservative Sarasota, and how the rise of a reactionary government tore the school apart, even before the second coming of Trump."

"The troubles for New College began in 2023, when Florida's Governor, Ron DeSantis, targeted the progressive educational enclave for a permanent makeover. The school's president was canned; the board of trustees, whisked to the side, making room for new trustees agreeable to the mission of reorienting New College in a different and, to the conservative forces behind the mission, less troubling direction. Gone were the campus gardens, the Gender Studies courses, and the Title IX office."

Read at Roger Ebert