Trust Me

How do you know what to believe?

Roko Belic, Director

2020

90 mins, 60 mins

Trust Me is a feature-length documentary and media literacy educational program. Licensing includes 15 classroom friendly film clips, K-12 Curriculum, Parent and Collegiate Discussion Guides, written by News Literacy Project with support from the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation. Trust Me explores manipulation and misinformation at the intersection of human nature and information technology. It explains how that drives a need for media literacy to lessen polarization, foster resilience and democracy. Expert interviews point the way toward a positive future. The film is produced by the Getting Better Foundation, whose mission is to build trust through the truth and support of media literacy education.

…we need to have confidence that improvement is possible. Today's information diet tends to work against these goals, and it's essential that we understand how people learn about current affairs and how we can enhance their knowledge about the present and hope for the future. Trust Me is a vivid, engaging, and penetrating portrait of these vital issues.

Steven Pinker - Professor of Psychology - Harvard University

Author - "Enlightenment Now"

Synopsis

Trust Me explores why humankind is attracted to stories about violence, how media outlets capitalize on that, and how we gather and share information and misinformation in the digital age. The film identifies confirmation bias and how innate neurological traits interact with web algorithms to distort how we see the world. Trust Me gives audiences a front row seat to the efforts of individuals, educators, and government regulators all the way up to the United Nations, in promoting journalistic integrity and media literacy around the world. Viewers hear stories from teachers and students in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Durango, CO schools, parents in Chicago, law enforcement in India and anti-vaxxers in New Zealand. World-renowned scientists and journalists then provide accounting of how media “ill-literacy” has led to the most sensational news stories and how media literacy helps build bridges by lessening polarization and hate, overcome anxiety, depression, even violence and crime.

Oscar-nominated director Roko Belic interviewed an aggregate of prominent social scientists, journalists and educators, including Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, Paul Zak, as well as other leading experts in education, journalism and healthcare. Interviews are woven with compelling human stories that create empathy, then unveil solutions audiences can adopt to detect manipulation and fake news, how to identify valid messaging and self-limit their own sharing/reporting of credible facts, leading to a positive influence on the state of mental health and efforts to preserve democracy.

Reviews

Whom should you trust in the media? Trust Me addresses this important issue. I'm proud to have been a part of this artful and powerful film that not only addresses the problem but, more importantly, offers solutions.

Michael Shermer - Publisher Skeptic magazine

Author "Giving the Devil His Due"

Awards and Screenings

Flickers – Best Documentary, 2020

IndieFest – Best Documentary, Best Educational Film , 2020

MINT – Best Documentary, 2020

Alexandria Int'l Film Fest - Joe Cantwell Award for Excellence in Documentary, Best Doc, 2020

Walter Cronkite Excellence in Journalism Award 2023

UNESCO Global Media & Information Literacy Award 2023

MediaWisz, Europe MEDEA Media and Learning Award 2023

Director Commentary

Director, Roko Belic: While the internet offers a world of information to billions of people, it’s not designed to be trustworthy. Stories that go viral and make money for internet platforms tend to be ones that ignite strong emotions, like fear and outrage, whether they’re true or not. Trust Me shares moving, real-life stories of people who disseminate fake news and those who have suffered and even lost their lives because of malicious online rumors. It reveals the depth of misinformation campaigns at a time when even democratic elections are at risk. And it shows how, despite the daunting challenges we face, we can fix this if we are committed, compassionate and – most fundamentally – informed.

Executive Producer, Joe Phelps: The Getting Better Foundation produced Trust Me to help narrow the perception gap between how many people view the world vs what empirical data prove to be positive evolution in terms of violence, poverty and healthcare. It is relevant and timely because that misperception is causing a loss of truth in each other, which, in turn, inhibits our progress.