Event

MJFF presents Little White Lie

Documentary
Director: Lacey Schwartz
2014 USA / English / 65 minutes

What defines identity? How do we reconcile the choices and mistakes of our parents, who they are as flawed human beings, and who we become in spite and because of them? Director Lacey Schwarz, raised as a white Jewish girl in Woodstock, New York, believed that her dark complexion was inherited from her Sicilian Jewish grandfather, despite the skepticism of those around her. Based on her college application photograph, she was contacted by the black student association, permitting her to explore black identity. Lacey finally asks her mother for the truth. Through home videos, archival footage, interviews and filmed episodes from her life, Lacey chronicles a legacy of family secrets and denial, the story of her dual identity, and the power of honesty.