Sarah Polley's mother died when she was 11. For years after, it was a family joke around the dinner table that Sarah's dad, the only one she'd ever known, may not have been her biological father. As a young adult, Sarah met a man whose story confirmed a suspicion she'd always carried with her. A DNA test proved that she was, in fact, conceived during an extramarital affair. She began collecting stories from friends and family, ultimately weaving these stories into some version of the truth in her new documentary, Stories We Tell. But more than just a story about her, the film is a story about all of us: why we need to tell stories, why we need to understand them, and have them heard.
Stories We Tell is writer/director Sarah Polley's third feature film. Her first two were Away from Her (2006) and Take This Waltz (2011).