5x BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
DOC LA | Santa Barbara International Film Festival | San Luis Obispo International Film Festival | Dumbo Film Festival | Ridgefield Independent Film Festival
“The short, brilliant & scary doc… goes deep inside the Macedonian fake news industry and shows the truth behind the lies — and the impact it had on America. Very important!” - Walter Isaacson, Professor of American History and Values | Tulane University
Journalism + Misinformation • Political Science • Technology + Society • American Politics • International Studies • DemocracyDate of Completion: 2019 | Run Time: 31 minutes | Language: English & Macedonian with English subtitles | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director & Producer: Leslie Iwerks
In 2016, an army of teenagers in Macedonia discovered a wildly lucrative game of posting false political clickbait news articles on Facebook for profit. By creating websites leading up to the presidential election that published sensationalized and misleading news stories about American politics, they generated a massive income and influenced the election. SELLING LIES offers a rare glimpse inside the secret network behind these websites, including one notorious ringleader whose social media reach had vast implications on American readers, and explores how disinformation campaigns continued to strongly impact the U.S. leading into the 2020 presidential election.
Video Librarian
"While focusing on the fake news originating from Macedonia and the impact it has had on U.S. elections, this film continues to highlight the need for knowledge-seekers to evaluate the information they are consuming on a daily basis. This film will support a range of disciplinary needs and collections and will continue to find relevance as the issues of fake news and the need to determine the veracity of the information we are using will continue into the future as technology expedites the flow of data. Highly Recommended."
Tulane University | Walter Isaacson, Professor of American History and Values
“The short, brilliant & scary doc… goes deep inside the Macedonian fake news industry and shows the truth behind the lies — and the impact it had on America. Very important!”
Educational Media Reviews Online | Russell A. Hall, Reference and Instruction Librarian, Penn State Erie
RECOMMENDED "Selling Lies examines the fake news generated in Macedonia focusing on U.S. politics preceding the 2016 elections. Indeed, it seems ludicrous that young Macedonians could have an impact on U.S. presidential politics and possibly the outcome of that election, but producer/director Leslie Iwerks ably shows how this chain of events occurred ... [C]ould serve as a solid entry point for larger discussions on fake news and misinformation on the internet."
CinemaBlend
“What's quite possibly the most interesting thing about Selling Lies is the way that it absolutely does refrain from making a judgment on this conflict between morality and money. The different positions are put forth and the audience is left to discuss it all after the fact."
AWARDS
Best Documentary Short | DOC LA
Best Documentary Short | Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Best Documentary Short | San Luis Obispo International Film Festival
Best Documentary Short | Dumbo Film Festival
Best Documentary Short | Ridgefield Independent Film Festival
Finalist Best Documentary Short | Indy Shorts International Film Festival
FESTIVALS
Buffalo International Film Festival
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival
REQUEST A GOOD TALK WITH LESLIE IWERKS
Director of SELLING LIES