Sheffield Doc/Fest
 | |
| Location | Sheffield, England |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1994 |
| Awards | Sheffield Doc/Fest Awards |
| Festival date | 9 June 2017 to 14 June 2017 |
| Website | http://www.sheffdocfest.com |
Sheffield Doc/Fest, short for Sheffield International Documentary Festival (SIDF), is an international documentary festival and Marketplace held annually in Sheffield.
Since beginning in 1994,[1] Doc/Fest has become the UK's biggest documentary festival and the third largest in the world.[2][3] The BBC have called it "one of the leading showcases of documentary films".[4]
The festival includes film screenings, sessions, a marketplace for the funding and distribution of films, interactive and virtual reality exhibitions, and its own awards.
The festival has been voted one of the Top Five Coolest Documentary Film Festivals in the World.[5]
About Sheffield Doc/Fest
The Festival is held at the Showroom Workstation and over 20 other venues across Sheffield and the surrounding area. Fun is a key element, and the festival holds many parties.[6] The festival has grown steadily over recent years.[7] Doc/Fest screenings help many films to achieve a wider audience by attracting distribution and further screening opportunities for the films it shows.[8]
The marketplace, which is centred on an event called the MeetMarket, also helps films achieve funding and distribution. Interactive documentary is also a central element of the festival with interactive exhibitions and commissioned works scattered across the city, with the Interactive Summit taking place throughout an entire day of the festival.
It has the traditional film festival element in that it screens exciting new documentaries, but it’s also a place where buyers, film distributors and producers come to meet documentary makers and find the next big thing.
Sheffield Doc/Fest is the perfect platform for anyone with an interest in interactive, virtual reality and factual content. Doc/Fest prides itself in supporting and nurturing new talent: in addition to the Festival days in June, Sheffield Doc/Fest presents year round workshops, screenings, labs and mentoring opportunities both in the UK and internationally.
History
In 1990, Peter Symes of BBC TV Features Bristol had the idea of creating a forum for British documentary filmmakers to debate and discuss their craft. In 1993, he set up a festival board which included representatives from Channel 4, United Artists, Discovery Channel, Central Independent Television and Granada Television. They chose to hold the festival in Sheffield, an English industrial town which was just beginning to develop a media and cultural sector.[9]
The first Sheffield International Documentary Festival was held in 1994, formatted as an international film festival and conference for documentary professionals.[10] It included a film programme, one or two masterclasses, and a party.[11] It lasted two days and mainly attracted London-based filmmakers and producers, plus several international commissioners and distributors.
Over the next eight years, the festival continued with around 475-700 delegates attending, and total audiences reaching around 2000. The festival became an opportunity for London-based independent filmmakers to talk to commissioners at the BBC and Channel 4, who were otherwise difficult to reach. Success at the festival might mean landing a job for the coming year.[9]
In 2005 Doc/Fest was struggling to survive, with around 500 mostly-UK delegates and 2000 visitors. The chairman at the time, Steve Hewlett, visited the Australian International Documentary Conference where he met its director Heather Croall, who had a background in filmmaking and had founded the cross-platform storytelling event DigiDocs. He invited Croall to come and work for the festival, and two weeks later she moved to Sheffield, taking up position as Festival Director & CEO until early 2015.
The festival was in a moribund state by the time I arrived, but I didn’t know that. I didn’t know there were murmurs that Sheffield had lost its mojo and was a little bit flat. Once I analyzed it and realized what a tragic situation we were facing, I thought, OK, we need to create something so new and different.— Heather Croall
The recent rise in international co-productions meant that British producers could no longer rely solely on one big broadcaster for their entire budget, and instead had to look abroad to piece together financing for their films. To internationalise the festival and help filmmakers achieve this financing, Croall introduced the MeetMarket pitching forum, where filmmakers pitch their ideas to funders in one-to-one meetings. She also introduced the digital-focused Summit and Crossover Market, now Alternate Realities Market, which – like the MeetMarket – pairs buyers and commissioners with game designers, technologists, producers, digital agencies and filmmakers, all looking to tell stories in the interactive realm.
Since 2006, Croall is credited with turning the fortunes of the festival around. It is now widely recognised as one of the top three documentary festivals in the world, and “the most significant documentary festival in Britain" .[12] Delegate numbers have risen fivefold since 2006.[7]
In 2007, Hussain Currimbhoy joined as programmer.[13]
In 2011 the festival moved from November to June, to better fit into the industry calendar and ensure better weather and lighter evenings for visitors.
Doc/Fest was an early advocate of crowdfunding as a source of finance for documentary filmmakers, and in 2010 staged its first festival-based crowdfunding pitching event, which was also an industry first.[14][15]
In October 2012 Doc/Fest went on to launch its own crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to raise $25k for the festival, to help stage special events.[16] They exceeded their target.[17]
From 2012, selected highlights from the festival have played at the BFI Southbank in London.[18] The festival began producing its own film projects, including From the Sea to the Land Beyond in 2012 and The Big Melt in 2013.
From 2014, the festival became recognised by the Academy Awards as an Oscar-qualifying festival in the Best Documentary (Short Subject) category[19] with the Doc/Fest Short Doc Award Winner eligible to enter for consideration.
In 2014 Doc/Fest presented films including Beyond Clueless and Love Is All at Latitude Festival,[20] with Sigur Ros scored archive film The Show of Shows: 100 Years of Vaudeville, Circuses and Carnivals, Montage of Heck, Sounds of the Cosmos and a number of shorts also featured in 2015.
In 2014 there were some high level staff changes. Deputy director Charlie Phillips left to head up the documentary arm of The Guardian, with director of Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival Melanie Iredale taking up the position,[21] director of programming Hussain Currimbhoy left for Sundance Festival with former executive content adviser at Independent Television Service (ITVS) Claire Aguilar becoming head of programming & industry engagement,[22] and Croall returned to Australia to be closer to family and direct the Adelaide Fringe Festival.[23]
Following Heather's departure, Crossover Labs Director Mark Atkin stepped in as Acting Director for the 2015 festival, before Elizabeth McIntyre of Discovery Networks joined as CEO & Festival Director from 1 September 2015.[24]
The effect of the festival on Sheffield's economy is worth millions of pounds. Outside of the annual festival, there is now also a year-round programme providing training, educational and cultural activities across the UK, including a training initiative for aspiring feature documentary producers called Future Producer School launched in 2014.[25]
2016
The 2016 event took place from 10 to 15 June.
2015
The 22nd festival ran for six days 5–10 June. Over 20 venues were used to host films, sessions, interactive exhibitions and networking events, with the full programme announced on the morning of the general election on 7 May.[26] A record number of audiences attended the festival, with 3,422 festival delegates and 27,917 members of the public.
148 films were shown, of which a record breaking 31 were world premieres, including Sean McAllister's hotly anticipated A Syrian Love Story, Brian Hill's The Confessions of Thomas Quick, and Jake Witzenfeld's Oriented, 41 UK premieres, 13 international premieres, and 19 European premieres.[27] Nearly 50% of the film programming was headed up by female filmmakers, with 73 of the films either produced or directed by women filmmakers.[28]
Notable screenings and events included:
- The UK premiere of Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence at Showroom Cinema opened the festival with sell out screenings in both screens 3 and 4.
- Opening Night continued at Sheffield City Hall with the world premiere of archive film The Show of Shows: 100 Years of Vaudeville, Circuses and Carnivals directed by Benedikt Erlingsson and scored by Georg Hólm and Orri Páll Dýrason of Sigur Rós and the Head of the Pagan Church in Iceland and godfather of Icelandic music, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson.[29] The film features never before seen footage from fairgrounds, circuses, variety performances, vaudeville and more, from the very birth of film to the present day, including footage from The University of Sheffield’s National Fairground Archive.
- A special screening of Jessica Edward's bio-doc Mavis! documenting the life of Mavis Staples was held in the classic Victorian Sheffield Botanical Gardens.
- Sheffield Repertory Orchestra performing Gustav Holst's The Planets live to a screening of interplanetary odysseys and commissioned visuals by Sheffield creative design agency Human and commentary from astronomer Paul Crowther.
- A 'Women in Docs' strand celebrating films with women on screen and behind the lens.
- War Work: 8 Songs with Film, a master work of poetic and musical archive composed and directed by Michael Nyman, and performed by Michael Nyman Band and Hilary Summers to commemorate the First World War.[30]
- A retrospective of British activist filmmaker John Akomfrah.
- A closing night event including screening of Monty Python - The Meaning of Live by Roger Graef and James Rogan, with Michael Palin in attendance for a post-screening Q&A and book signing.[29]
- The Ideas & Science strand, supported by the Wellcome Trust, focusing on creativity and innovation at the heart of documentary, digital and interactive.[29]
- An 'Interactive at Sheffield' exhibition presented by Crossover Labs, featuring 16 interactive documentaries held at Millennium Gallery.
- A dedicated Virtual Reality Arcade at Site Gallery featuring 9 projects on a collection of Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard.[31]
- FINAL DAYS by British artist Heather Phillipson, a specially commissioned installation at Castle House, a defunct department store in the heard of Sheffield. Supported by Arts Council England, presented in partnership with University of Sheffield and Serpentine Galleries.
There were 83 sessions, talks and masterclasses,[26] with speakers including Davina McCall, Nicky Campbell, Jon Snow, Lucy Worsley, Philippa Perry, Ian Katz, Charlotte Moore, and Robin Ince.[29]
2014
The festival expanded from five days to six and for the first time began on a Saturday. Screenings took place across a wider range of more unusual venues in Sheffield and the Peak District.[32] 130 films were shown, of which 21 were world premieres, 24 UK premieres, and 12 European premieres.[19][33][34]
World premieres included Martin Scorsese's documentary about The New York Review of Books, The 50 Year Argument; Alex Holmes' Stop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story; The Last Man On The Moon, about former astronaut Eugene Cernan who also attended the festival; One Rogue Reporter, written and directed by former 'Daily Star' reporter Rich Peppiatt;[4] and Brilliant Creatures: Rebels of Oz.[35]
Notable screenings and events included:
- The European premiere of Pulp: A Film About Life, Death and Supermarkets directed by Florian Habicht,[36] telling the story of Pulp's final concert in Sheffield in 2012[4] and including a simulcast and live satellite Q&A with the band, broadcast to 120 cinemas across the UK and Ireland.[37][38]
- The premiere of Kim Longinotto's Love Is All at Chatsworth House with a soundtrack by Richard Hawley, combining film material from the BFI National Archive with original music in a similar vein to previous Doc/Fest projects From the Sea to the Land Beyond and The Big Melt.
- Saint Etienne performing a live score to How We Used To Live, Paul Kelly's documentary about vanishing London.
- Summer Camp performing a live soundtrack to Guardian writer Charlie Lyne's film essay Beyond Clueless, about 90s teen movies.[36]
- A 'Hell on Wheels' strand of cycling films to celebrate the Tour de France visiting Yorkshire.[39]
- Nightly screenings in the Peak Cavern including Thomas Balmes' Happiness.
- A spotlight on South Africa including Miners Shot Down about the Marikana miners' strike.[4]
- A retrospective of experimental Greek-French director Agnès Varda.
- An 'Interactive at Sheffield' exhibition presented by Crossover Labs, featuring 15 interactive documentaries delivered through devices including the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headset.[19] This included the first documentary videogames to be shown at the festival, Riot and Papers, Please.[40]
- Immersive documentary Door into the Dark.[41]
Speakers included Peter Bazalgette, Jeremy Deller, Brian Eno, Sue Perkins, Grayson Perry, John Pilger, Jon Snow, and Ondi Timoner.[4][19][33][36]
There were 82 conference sessions and masterclasses,[19] and a record number of pitch opportunities for filmmakers worth £200,000.[25]
2013
2013 saw a record number of films and delegates.[42] Delegate numbers rose by 18% to 3,129.[43] There were a record 18 international delegations including representatives from Armenia, Canada, Jordan, Morocco, the Netherlands, the State of Palestine, Russia, South Africa, and South Sudan, attending the festival with a special focus on factual filmmaking in their regions.[44]
250 buyers and decision-makers from over 20 countries attended.[10]
Film submissions topped 2000 for the first time.[45] 120 films were shown, of which there were 77 feature length documentaries,[46] 33 shorts, 10 interactive projects and one art installation.[13] There were 18 world premieres,[12] 12 UK premieres, and 5 European premieres. A record 14 films screening at Doc/Fest were developed and funded through MeetMarket,[47] including Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing which went on to win the Audience Award.[7]
World premieres included Basically, Johnny Moped, Emptying The Skies, Everybody’s Child, A Fragile Trust: Plagiarism, Power & Jayson Blair at the New York Times, Here Was Cuba, Mirage Men, Notes from the Inside with James Rhodes, Particle Fever, Plot for Peace, Project Wild Thing, Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic, The Big Melt, Which Way is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington, The Man Whose Mind Exploded, The Road to Fame, The Secret Life of Uri Geller – Psychic Spy?, Thin Ice, and To Let The World In.
European premieres included After Tiller, Dirty Wars, and Pandora's Promise.
UK premieres included The Act of Killing and The Crash Reel.[48] The Act of Killing went on to win a Bafta and was named best film of 2013 by The Guardian.[49]
Film strands included Behind the Beats, Best of British, Cross-Platform, Euro/Doc, First Cut, Global Encounters, New York Times Op-Docs, Queer Screen, Resistance, Shorts, The Habit of Art, and This Sporting Life.
A new strand, Films on Film, screened a notable film with a documentary about it, for example The Exorcist (Director's Cut) with The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist, and John Waters’ Female Trouble with I Am Divine.[18] This strand aimed to attract a wider mix of people, and was supported by Lottery funding through the BFI’s Film Festival Fund which provides extra resources to help grow film festival audiences.[50]
The Doc/Fest Retrospective strand celebrated the work of Japanese filmmaker Shohei Imamura.[48]
More than 75 directors were present and took part in Q&A sessions.[51]
Notable screenings and events included:
- Three opening night films:
- The Big Melt, a documentary film about Sheffield’s steel industry by Martin Wallace with a live soundtrack from Jarvis Cocker and over 50 musicians.[52]
- An in-cave screening of The Summit, a climbing documentary by Nick Ryan about the quest to reach the peak of K2. This was screened at Peak Cavern, a cave known as the 'Devil's Arse', in the Peak District.[53]
- The European premiere of Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer followed by a Skype interview with Katya Samutsevich, one of the members of Pussy Riot.[54][55]
- A live soundtrack performance of Songs from the Shipyards by Mercury Prize-nominees The Unthanks.[56]
- A look behind-the-scenes of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? series.[57]
- A day of events centred on the Ken Loach documentary The Spirit of '45.[58]
- TEDxSheffield, a fringe event which took place the day before the festival.[59]
- The Howard Street outdoor screen which showed films for free for 12 hours each day during the festival.[60]
- Blast Theory's interactive online game I'd Hide You.[61]
- Doc/Feast, a street food market made up of local foodie businesses,[62] plus a special Doc/Fest ale.[11]
There were 80 conference sessions and masterclasses,[47] and 300 speakers.[10] Notable speakers included Adam Buxton, Melvyn Bragg, Jonathan Franzen, Uri Geller, Ira Glass, Alex Graham, Janice Hadlow, Jay Hunt, Ross Kemp, Mark Kermode, Sir Trevor McDonald, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Walter Murch, Miranda Sawyer interviewing Michael Palin, Sue Perkins, Captain Sensible, and Alan Yentob.[12][63][64][65][66][67][68][69]
2012
2,657 delegates from 67 countries attended the festival, and general admissions were 20,079.
Notable screenings and events included:
- The debut of From The Sea To The Land Beyond, a documentary by Penny Woolcock with a live soundtrack performance by British Sea Power.[70]
- A surprise performance by Sixto Rodriguez, the star of opening night film Searching for Sugar Man, which went on to win an Oscar for Best Documentary.[45]
Speakers included Gareth Malone and Tim Pool.[54]
2011
The festival's previous director of programming, Hussain Currimbhoy, spotted the film Searching for Sugar Man and ran it as the opening night feature with a surprise performance from the film's star, Sixto Rodriguez. It became the first music documentary to win an Oscar since 1991.[45]
MeetMarket
MeetMarket is a documentary pitching event held at Sheffield Doc/Fest, where filmmakers pitch their project ideas one-on-one to UK and international broadcasters, funders and distributors.
Former Festival Director Heather Croall introduced MeetMarket to Doc/Fest in 2006 and developed it as an alternative to public pitching (where filmmakers pitch to a large audience).[71] Each meeting is match-made and scheduled. Each year there are over 1000 one-on-one meetings for 65+ projects across two days.[72] Each project team attends 15-20 meetings, which are all match-made with relevant decision-makers. In 2012 the event was attended by 250 decision-makers.[73]
Since its introduction, 7300 meetings have taken place, raising £30.5million for 433 documentary and digital projects (as of July 2015).
All meetings held at MeetMarket have been requested by both parties, meaning it's more likely for a deal to be made. While the focus is on achieving funding and distribution, participants also benefit from advice on production, distribution, exhibition, marketing and outreach. Filmmaker Guy Davidi said “Pitching in intimate round-table sessions was a big comfort. It reduces tension and competitiveness and makes the whole thing much more relaxed and fun. We have created important connections and in one case it led directly to an investment.”[74]
In 2013 MeetMarket attracted over 600 applications. Over 60 projects from 18 countries were chosen to participate. Filmmakers included Franny Armstrong, Marshall Curry, Jeanie Finlay, Alex Gibney, Phil Grabsky, Brian Hill, Victor Kossakovsky and Joshua Oppenheimer.[9] The selection also included six cross-platform projects.
In 2014, 64 projects were chosen to participate in MeetMarket,[33] including new films from Franny Armstrong, William Karel, and Stanley Nelson Jr.. 290 investors, commissioners and production partners took part including commissioners from Netflix, Dazed, Vice, Vimeo and Nowness and distributors Oscilloscope Laboratories, Dogwoof and PBS.[19]
In 2015, 64 projects from 19 countries were chosen to participate in MeetMarket from 600 submissions,[33] including new films from John Akomfrah, Lindsey Dryden and Maheen Zia. 300 executives, distributors, commissioners, funders, advisors and buyers across documentary and digital media took part in the MeetMarket and Marketplace activity including The Guardian, BBC, ARTE, Dogwoof and Channel 4.
MeetMarket projects have gone on to win awards at Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA, Hot Docs and Doc/Fest.[74]
Notable films to achieve funding through MeetMarket include Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing[7] and The Look of Silence (due for release in summer 2014),[75] Searching for Sugarman, Jeanie Finlay's The Great Hip Hop Hoax,[76] Ping Pong, 5 Broken Cameras, and God Loves Uganda.[77]
Digital and interactive
Sheffield Doc/Fest runs a number of programmes focussed on new media development in interactive and virtual reality.
This digital and interactive programme includes:
- The Alternative Realities Summit, which is a full day of sessions exploring the digital revolution in broadcasting.[12] Delegates can network with representatives from the film and TV industry, which have included keynote speakers such as BBC North’s Richard Deverell, Frank Rose, Steven Johnson and Katerina Cizek from Highrise. The day includes breakout sessions and round table discussions. The 2013 summit focussed on ‘Transformers’, people who want to change the world and have moved from one platform to another to do so. It was aimed at filmmakers creating apps, documentary producers moving to social platforms, app designers making hardware, and video game developers making physical objects.[18][55]
- The Alternative Realities Market, which is a pitching event for interactive and digital projects[47] run in a similar way to the festival's MeetMarket. It took place for the first time in 2013, when 27 project teams pitched to 85 cross-platform decision makers.[78]
- A strand of Alternative Realities panels during the main festival conference programme, which includes sessions, commissioning editor panels, workshops, project showcasing, and cross-platform pitching competitions.
- The Alternative Realities Exhibition, which shows and hosts digital projects including those commissioned especially for the festival. This is also a space where delegates can meet and network.[48]
- The Virtual Reality Exhibition showcasing a number of VR focused interactive projects housed in a Sheffield city art gallery.[31]
Awards
The Sheffield Doc/Fest Awards honour the best documentaries from the Doc/Fest programme, and are judged by industry professionals.
Current categories
- Sheffield Doc/Fest Audience Award voted for by audiences.
- Grand Jury Prize for excellence in style, substance and approach. The jury is made up of UK and international documentary specialists.
- Interactive Award for a project that exhibits originality in approach to form, storytelling and delivery. The jury is made up of international film and interactive industry experts.
- Environmental Award given to the documentary that best addresses or raises awareness of the environmental challenges faces by the world.
- Youth Jury Award for the film that is most engaging for young audiences. The winner is chosen by a jury of five young people aged 18–22, who take part in a series of workshops and screenings with industry professionals ahead of the festival.[79]
- Short Doc Award, introduced in 2013,[69] these films are made by new and established filmmakers from around the world and automatically qualifies the winner for consideration for the Academy Awards.
- Student Doc Award for films made as part of tertiary course work at UK and international universities, judged by a panel of industry experts.
- Tim Hetherington Award presented by Dogwoof. This was introduced in 2013 to honour war photographer Tim Hetherington. It includes a cash prize and is decided by a jury including Tim’s mother, Judith Hetherington.
- Inspiration Award, introduced in 2009, which celebrates a figure in the industry who has championed documentary and helped get great work into the public eye.[47]
- The In The Dark Sheffield International Audio Award introduced in 2014 to highlight the best in audio documentaries.[80]
Winners
2009
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Sheffield Doc/Fest Audience Award | Junior |
| Special Jury Prize | Videocracy |
| Sheffield Innovation Award | LoopLoop
Special mention: The Big Issue |
| Sheffield Green Award | Blood of the Rose |
| Sheffield Youth Jury Award | Sons of Cuba |
| Student Doc Award | Arsey Versey |
| Inspiration Award | Adam Curtis |
2010
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Sheffield Doc/Fest Audience Award | Joint winners: Father, Son and the Holy War and Scenes from a Teenage Killing |
| Special Jury Prize | Pink Saris
Special mention: Nostalgia for the Light |
| Sheffield Innovation Award | The Arbor
Special mention: Prison Valley |
| Sheffield Green Award | Rainmakers
Special mention: Into Eternity |
| Sheffield Youth Jury Award | The Battle for Barking
Special mention: Marathon Boy |
| Student Doc Award | No Easy Time |
| Inspiration Award | Kim Longinotto |
2011
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Sheffield Doc/Fest Audience Award | Give Up Tomorrow |
| Special Jury Prize | The Interrupters |
| Sheffield Innovation Award sponsored by BT Vision | Welcome to Pine Point |
| Sheffield Green Award | You've Been Trumped |
| Sheffield Youth Jury Award | We Are Poets |
| Student Doc Award | Eighty Eight |
| Inspiration Award | Nick Broomfield |
A Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Albert Maysles.
2012
The awards were held on 17 June 2012.
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Sheffield Doc/Fest Audience Award | 5 Broken Cameras |
| Special Jury Prize | Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present |
| Sheffield Innovation Award sponsored by BT Vision | Bear 71 |
| Sheffield Green Award | Law of the Jungle |
| Sheffield Shorts Award | The Globe Collector |
| Sheffield Youth Jury Award | Photographic Memory |
| Student Doc Award | The Betrayal – Nerakhoon |
| EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Film | Going Up The Stairs |
| Inspiration Award | Penny Woolcock |
2013
The awards were held on 16 June 2013, and presented by Jeremy Hardy.
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Sheffield Doc/Fest Audience Award | Joint winners: The Act of Killing and Particle Fever |
| Special Jury Prize | The Act of Killing
Special mention: Mothers |
| Sheffield Innovation Award sponsored by BT Vision | Alma, a Tale of Violence |
| Sheffield Green Award | Pandora's Promise |
| Sheffield Shorts Award | Slomo |
| Sheffield Youth Jury Award | God Loves Uganda |
| Student Doc Award | Boys |
| Tim Hetherington Award | The Square |
| EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Film | Rafea Solar Mama |
| Inspiration Award | Nick Fraser, editor of the BBC's Storyville |
The Alliance of Women Film Journalists also presented a Special EDA Award to Sheffield Doc/Fest's Festival Director, Heather Croall, naming her 2013's Ambassador of Women's Films.[81][82]
2014
The awards were held on 12 June 2014. For the first time, the award-winning documentary short automatically qualifies for consideration for the Academy Awards.[19]
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Sheffield Doc/Fest Audience Award | Still The Enemy Within |
| Special Jury Prize | Attacking The Devil: Harold Evans and the Last Nazi War Crime
Special mention: Night Will Fall |
| Sheffield Innovation Award sponsored by BT Vision | Highrise (documentary) |
| Sheffield Green Award | Unearthed |
| Sheffield Shorts Award | Amanda F***ing Palmer on the Rocks |
| The Wintonick Award | Vessel |
| Sheffield Youth Jury Award | The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz |
| Student Doc Award | Our Curse |
| Tim Hetherington Award | Profession: Documentarist |
| Inspiration Award | Laura Poitras |
A Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Roger Graef.[83]
2015
The awards were held on 10 June 2015 at the Crucible Theatre.[19]
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Sheffield Doc/Fest Audience Award | The Look of Silence (feature doc), Dear Araucaria (short doc), Disney Animated (interactive project) |
| Grand Jury Award | A Syrian Love Story |
| Interactive Award | Clouds Over Sidra
Special mention: Do Not Track |
| Environmental Award | How to Change the World
Special mention: Landfill Harmonic |
| Short Doc Award | Starting Point |
| Youth Jury Award | 3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets |
| Student Doc Award sponsored by London Film Academy | The Archipelago |
| Tim Hetherington Award | Cartel Land |
| Inspiration Award | Heather Croall |
| In The Dark Audio Award | The Woman on Ice |
2016
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Grand Jury Award | Cameraperson
Special mention: The Settlers |
| Interactive Award | New Dimensions in Testimony
Special mention: Walden, a Game |
| Environmental Award | SEED: The Untold Story
Special mention: Death By Design |
| Short Doc Award | I'm Not From Here |
| Youth Jury Award | Sonita |
| Student Doc Award | My Aleppo |
| Tim Hetherington Award | Tempestad
Special mention: Hooligan Sparrow |
| VR Award | Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness
Special mention: Home – An Immersive Spacewalk Experience |
| Dr Clifford Shaw Feature Doc Audience Award | Presenting Princess Shaw |
| Audience Award for Short Doc | Tarikat |
| Audience Award for Alternate Realities Interactive Project | New Dimensions in Testimony |
| Audience Award for Alternate Realities VR Project | Home – An Immersive Spacewalk Experience |
| Creative Leadership Award | Sheila Nevins |
| Award for Unsung Hero in Factual TV | Jan Tomalin |
| Storytelling and Innovation Award | Notes on Blindness |
| Whicker's World Funding Award | Burma's Lost Royals
Runner up: Americaville |
| Whicker's World Vet Award | Fluechtlinge |
| Whicker's World Audio Award | Little Volcanoes
Runner up: The Dhamazzedi Bell |
Year round programme
Doc/Fest activities outside of the five-day festival include:
- Screenings, for example the BFI Doc/Fest tour which takes a selection of the festival's film programme around the UK, and screenings at Latitude Festival 2013.[85]
- An ongoing mentoring programme for filmmakers.
- Training, workshops and networking events for filmmakers.[54]
- A structured internship and volunteer programme for young people.
Festival directors
- Elizabeth McIntyre, 2015–present[24]
- Heather Croall, 2006–2014[23]
- Brent Woods, 2002–2005[86]
- Kathy Loizou, 1996–2001[87]
- Paula Shirley, 1995
- Midge MacKenzie, 1994[11]
Festival chairpersons
- Alex Graham, 2011–present[6]
- Steve Hewlett, 2005–2011[88]
- Christo Hird, 2000–2004[89]
- Roger James, 1997–2000[90]
- Marian Bowan, 1996
- Peter Symes, 1994–1995
References
- ↑ Catherine Shoard, Jarvis Cocker gears up to be Sheffield Doc/Fest's Man of Steel, The Guardian, 10 June 2013
- ↑ Matt Thrift, Preview: Sheffield Doc/Fest 2013, Little White Lies, 29 May 2013
- ↑ Truth or Dare? A Golden Age for Documentary Film, Huffington Post UK, 17 June 2013
- 1 2 3 4 5 Martin Scorsese premiere for Sheffield Doc/Fest, BBC News, 8 May 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Lara Colocino, The Coolest Film Festivals in the World, 2013: Documentary and Horror/Sci-Fi Festival Winners, moviemaker.com, 8 November 2013
- 1 2 3 Chris Bond, Documentary evidence of a golden age as festival opens window on the world, Yorkshire Post, 30 May 2013
- 1 2 3 4 Nick Bradshaw, The best of Sheffield Doc/Fest 2013, Sight & Sound, 10 July 2013
- ↑ Alexandra Zeevalkink, Sheffield Doc/Fest: call for documentary submissions , docgeeks.com, 30 October 2012
- 1 2 3 Kevin Ritchie, Doc/Fest celebrates its second decade, realscreen.com, 12 June 2013
- 1 2 3 ’20th Anniversary for Sheffield Doc/Fest’, ‘’Regional Film and Video’’, 1 June 2013
- 1 2 3 'Quidnunc', Sheffield Telegraph, 6 June 2013
- 1 2 3 4 Julie Farmer, ‘Centre Stage’, ’’First For Business’’, 1 June 2013
- 1 2 Paul Banks, Fav docs of Sheffield Doc/Fest's programmer, The Knowledge, 9 May 2013
- ↑ Alexandra Zeevalkink, '‘Sheffield Doc/Fest launches crowdfunding campaign'’, docgeeks.com, 4 October 2012
- ↑ Jennifer Merin, Sheffield Doc Fest's Crowdfunding Initiative, about.com, retrieved 10 October 2012
- ↑ Ian Sandwell, '’Sheffield Doc/Fest launch Indiegogo crowdfunding initiative’', ScreenDaily, 4 October 2012
- ↑ Ben Unwin, '‘Documentary festival reaches own crowdfunding target’', 18 November 2012
- 1 2 3 Chris Patmore, Packed schedule for Sheffield Doc/Fest announced, moviescopemag.com, 10 May 2013
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kevin Ritchie, Scorsese, Longinotto, Woolcock to premiere docs in Sheffield, Real Screen, 9 May 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Elisa Bray, A Festival For All The Senses, The Independent, 12 July 2014
- ↑ Adam Benzine, Doc/Fest hires Iredale as Phillips, Currimbhoy depart, Realscreen, 8 September 2014
- ↑ Sarah Cooper, Claire Aguilar joins Sheffield Doc/Fest, Screen International, 12 December 2014
- 1 2 Sheffield Doc/Fest director Heather Croall to step down, screendaily.com, 5 January 2015, retrieved 1 June 2015
- 1 2 Sheffield Doc/Fest hires Liz McIntyre, broadcastnow.co.uk, 21 April 2015, retrieved 1 June 2015
- 1 2 Manori Ravindran Sheffield Doc/Fest launches producer school, pitch competitions, realscreen.com, 10 March 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- 1 2 DocGeeks, Sheffield Doc/Fest aims for bigger, better and more interactive in 2015, DocGeeks, 7 May 2015
- ↑ Michael Rosser, Sheffield Doc/Fest unveils 2015 line-up, Screen Daily, 7 May 2015
- ↑ Alex Ritman, Sheffield Doc/Fest Touts Strong Female Presence, Hollywood Reporter, 9 June 2015
- 1 2 3 4 Ben Green, SHEFFIELD DOC/FEST 2015: Full programme announced, The Star, 11 May 2015, retrieved 3 November 2015
- ↑ Caroline Frost, Idris Elba's 'Mandela, My Dad And Me' One Of The Highlights At This Year's Sheffield Documentary Festival, Huffington Post, 7 May 2015, retrieved 3 November 2015
- 1 2 Jamie Feltham, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2015 Shows VR at its Most Humanising, Empowering and Emotive, VR Focus, 9 June 2015, retrieved 3 November 2015
- ↑ Kelly Anderson, Sheffield Doc/Fest expands, sets 2014 dates, Real Screen, 12 September 2013, retrieved 4 August 2014
- 1 2 3 4 Eric Eidelstein, The 21st Annual Sheffield Documentary Festival Will Showcase a New Scorsese Film, Industry Sessions and More, indiewire.com, 8 May 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Ian Youngs, Sheffield Doc/Fest: War crimes, pop stars and skaters, BBC News, 6 June 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Vanessa Thorpe, The Australians who set 60s Britain swinging, The Guardian, 31 May 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- 1 2 3 Henry Barnes, Sheffield Doc/Fest to host first public screening of Scorsese documentary, The Guardian, 8 May 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Charles Gant, 22 Jump Street triples original's first weekend take at UK box office, The Guardian, 10 June 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Alicia Tan, Pulp head home for premiere of documentary at Sheffield Doc Fest, Radio Times, 2 June 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Helen Pidd, Hell on wheels: cycling documentaries at Sheffield Doc/Fest, The Guardian, 9 June 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Sheffield Documentary Festival to Present 15 Boundary-Pushing Interactive Documentaries as part of Interactive at Sheffield, indiewire.com, 6 May 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Charlotte Harding, How to get lost, Dazed, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Jennifer Merin, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2013 - Celebrating 20 Years!, about.com, 16 June 2013
- ↑ '‘Film Reel, nowthenmagazine.com, July 2013
- ↑ Alexandra Zeevalkink, Networking at Sheffield Doc/Fest, KFTV, 13 June 2013
- 1 2 3 Daniel Dylan Wray, Sheffield Doc/Fest hopes to rekindle last year's Oscar magic, The Guardian, 9 May 2013
- ↑ 'Five Best Revivals', The Independent, 8 June 2013
- 1 2 3 4 Pippa Considine, Sheffield Doc/Fest highlights for 2013, televisual.com, 10 May 2013
- 1 2 3 Barry Walsh, “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer" to open Sheffield Doc/Fest, realscreen.com, 9 May 2013
- ↑ Hussain Currimbhoy, British Council, 2 June 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Pussy Riot film to open Sheffield Doc/Fest, screendaily.com, 9 May 2013
- ↑ Star-studded line-up for documentary festival, The Star, 11 June 2013
- ↑ Pulp's Jarvis Cocker to perform at Sheffield premiere of steel documentary 'The Big Melt', NME, 10 June 2013
- ↑ Jane Faram, ‘Sheffield Doc/Fest’, digyorkshire.com, retrieved 4 June 2013
- 1 2 3 Laura Davies, ‘What’s Up, Doc’, ‘’Exposed magazine’’, 1 June 2013
- 1 2 Mark Moran, Pussy Riot film to open Sheffield's Doc/Fest 20, pictureville.net, 9 May 2013
- ↑ Mark Perkins, ‘The Unthanks: Songs from the Shipyards’, ‘’Exposed, 12 June 2013
- ↑ ’The Diary’, ‘’Yorkshire Life’’, 1 June 2013
- ↑ 'The Spirit of '45 Day announced for Sheffield Doc/Fest', 8 May 2013
- ↑ Cristina A Gonzalez, 20th Sheffield Doc/Fest Unveils Lineup; To Open With Three Docs Including 'Pussy Riot, Indiewire.com, 9 May 2013
- ↑ Ellen Beardmore, Once in a lifetime' chance to see films', The Star (Sheffield), 30 May 2013
- ↑ Liat Clark, City-wide manhunt turns Sheffield into digital stage, wired.co.uk, 20 February 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ 'Street Food Feast', Sheffield Telegraph, 6 June 2013
- ↑ Ryan Finnigan, Doc/Fest 2013 Preview, noripcord.com, 6 June 2013
- ↑ ’Docfest’, ‘’Exposed magazine’’, 1 May 2013
- ↑ Laura Davies, ’Indian Summer’, ‘’Exposed magazine’’, 1 June 2013
- ↑ 'Sheffield Doc/Fest', Yorkshire Post, 8 June 2013
- ↑ ’Hot Tickets, ‘’The Observer’’, 2 May 2013
- ↑ ’Top News’, ‘’Broadcast’’, 21 June 2013
- 1 2 Ian Soutar, 'Film critic Mark exorcising 25 years of fear', Sheffield Telegraph, 6 June 2013
- ↑ Pete Martin, '‘British Sea Power’', nowthenmagazine.com, July 2013
- ↑ Michael Rosser, Heather Croall, Sheffield Doc/Fest, screendaily.com, 10 June 2013
- ↑ Michael Rosser, Sheffield Doc/Fest’s MeetMarket draws record pitches, screendaily.com, 2 April 2013
- ↑ Alexandra Zeevalkink, Meet your documentary match at Sheffield Doc/Fest’s MeetMarket, 17 January 2013
- 1 2 MeetMarket report 2006-2012, Broadcast, 2012, retrieved 9 January 2014
- ↑ Wendy Mitchell, ‘Danish Modern, ‘’Screen International’’, 1 June 2013
- ↑ http://realscreen.com/2013/06/13/docfest-13-finlay-reveals-the-great-hip-hop-hoax/, Kelly Anderson, 'Doc/Fest ’13: Finlay reveals “The Great Hip Hop Hoax"', realscreen.com, 13 June 2013
- ↑ Michael Rosser, Sheffield Doc/Fest delegates up 18%, screendaily.com, 19 June 2013, retrieved 27 January 2014
- ↑ Nicola Lees, Hidden Treasure: Secret Sources of Documentary Funding, tvmole.com, 25 June 2013
- ↑ 'Doc/Fest Youth Jury', Big Issue in the North, 11 February 2013
- ↑ Vicky Frost, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2014: Love and Radio - audio, The Guardian, 7 June 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ Michael Rosser, The Act of Killing takes top prize at Sheffield Doc/Fest , screendaily.com, retrieved 16 June 2013
- ↑ Jennifer Merin, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2013 - Award Winners, about.com, retrieved 16 June 2013
- ↑ Harold Evans film Attacking The Devil wins Sheffield Doc/Fest award, BBC News, 12 June 2014, retrieved 4 August 2014
- ↑ "Sheffield Doc/Fest 2016 Award Winners". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ↑ 'Theatre, cabaret and 3D show', Eastern Daily Press, 18 July 2013
- ↑ Tim Dams, Woods steps down as Sheffield Documentary fest director, screendaily.com, 6 October 2005
- ↑ Festival Director Quits, Broadcast, 25 January 2002
- ↑ Adam Benzine, Wall To Wall’s Graham to chair Sheffield Doc/Fest, realscreen.com, 20 June 2011
- ↑ Havana Marking, Northern exposure: Why Sheffield Doc/Fest matters, The Guardian, 2 November 2006
- ↑ Andy Fry, Sheffield hits its stride, realscreen.com, 1 December 1999