The 24-hour True Storytelling Festival was founded by Paul Aflalo in March 2020, after the declaration of the global pandemic, and as governments around the world imposed self-isolation. The festival was co-founded by Misha Gajewski, Brune Smith, and Emily Poulin.
The festival took place from Saturday, June 13th to Sunday, June 14th, 2020, with the theme WHEN THE IMPOSSIBLE BECOMES POSSIBLE — True personal stories of unexpected surprises, human resilience, and coming through on the other side.
This an online gathering of over 120 storytellers from around the world, was broadcast live to an audience of 25,000 people over twenty-four hours — all online.
The festival was produced by Replay Storytelling in collaboration with the Mezrab (The Netherlands), The Story Collider (United States, Canada, England, and New Zealand), Bodies of Stories (Canada), Raw Storytelling (United States), The Storytellers Club (Canada), Awkward Teenage Years (United States), Unreeling (United States), Spark (United Kingdom), Enfabulation (Canada), The Magnificent Weirdos (New Zealand), and But That’s Another Story.