Tomorrow morning, I’m flying to St. Louis, then taking a bus to Columbia, Missouri to check out the True/False Film Festival. The festival brings together non-fiction films from recent major festivals, world premieres, and surprise screenings. Here’s a look at a few of the films that I plan to see before heading back to New York on Sunday. If you’re showing a film at the festival or will just be there hanging out and would like to meet up, send me an email at karina AT spout DOT com, and we’ll make it happen.

Shake The Devil Off: In post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, pastor Father LeDoux tries to stop the closing of St. Augustine’s church, a vital community center thought be some to be the birthplace of jazz. See the French-subtitled trailer (the film first premiered at Locarno) here.

Carny: A work-in-progress presentation of Allison Murphy’s doc on the personal lives and relationships of carnival workers, based on Virginia Lee Hunter’s photo book. Judging by the footage shown on Carny’s website, the film, which blends Super 8 film with video, looks amazing.

Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go: A cinema verite portrait of an English school for troubled kids, Kim Longinotto’s film won a special jury prize last fall at IDFA.

Gonzo: I missed the press screening of Alex Gibney’s Hunter S. Thompson doc at Sundance, but maybe it’s for the best: recent Oscar-winner Gibney is expected to to be in attendance at Gonzo’s Saturday True/False screening.

Very Young Girls: David Schisgal’s doc on teenage prostitutes premiered last fall at Toronto. At True/False, it’s being honored as part of the True Life Fund, though which the festival choose one film per year for which to “raise funds to support and honor those who appear in front of the camera.”