In this inspired, genre-twisting 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 behind a family of storytellers. She playfully 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 a lively, fun-loving past and the shadows just beneath. Polley unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: a messy, intense and loving tangle of contradictions. 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.

 

Sarah Polley (Toronto, Canada, 1979) is an actress, director, screenwriter, producer and musician. She took on numerous award-winning roles for a number of film directors and screenwriters, including Jaco Van Dormael (Mr. Nobody), David Cronenberg (eXistenZ), Terry Gilliam (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen), Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica), Kathryn Bigelow (The Weight of Water), Isabel Coixet (The Secret Life of Words, My Life Without Me). As a director, she made three short films before making her first feature film in 2002, All I Want For Christmas. Four years later, she directed Away From Her, based on Canadian author Alice Munro´s novel The Bear Came Over the Mountain. The film was received broad critical acclaim and was nominated for two Oscars, one for Best Screenplay, and the other for Best Actress, with a performance by Julie Christie, who was awarded a Golden Globe. In 2011, Polley returned to directing with Take This Waltz.