The 30th Sheffield Doc Fest has unveiled its programme of 122 films, its Alternate Realities exhibitions and series of Public Talks. The event runs 14-19 June 2023. The Film Programme includes 37 World Premieres, 20 International Premieres, 10 European Premieres, 47 UK Premieres and 8 retrospective films, all from 52 countries of production.
The opening film is Paul Sng’s Tish (world premiere), a portrait of social documentary photographer and trailblazer Tish Murtha who dedicated her life to documenting the lives of working-class communities in North East England.
The Grand Jury Award of International Competition (see films) is an Academy-Award accredited prize. Other competitive sections are International First Feature Competition (see films) and the International Short Film Competition (see films) whose Grand Jury Award is BAFTA, Academy Award and BIFA-accredited.
“We are so happy to present a truly international, intersectional and innovative line-up of films and events as we celebrate our 30th edition,” commented Annabel Grundy, Sheffield DocFest Managing Director. “Sheffield DocFest has a long history of bringing new perspectives into the documentary arena, inspiring industry and audiences to immerse themselves and discover something new.”
The doc offer at Sheffield 2023 also includes an abridged verbatim play (Jonathan Freedland’s Jews. In Their Own Words), premieres of 3 TV series (Evacuation by James W Newton; The Good Fight Club by Jank Retallack and Liz Biggs; The Greatest Show Never Made by Ashlet Francis-Roy), as well as virtual reality exhibitions.
The festival highlights its “stand-out music documentaries,” which include the world premiere of Wham!, the international premiere of TLC Forever, the international premiere of the Cyndi Lauper portrait, Let The Canary Sing, and the World Premiere of Kim Longinotto and Franky Murray Brown’s Dalton’s Dream, which was part of the Sheffield DocFest MeetMarket in 2022.
Sheffield’s Alternate Realities exhibition includes Missing Pictures, a five-part VR series with acclaimed filmmakers Abel Ferrara, Tsai Ming-Liang, Catherine Hardwicke, Lee Myung-Se and Naomi Kawase.
The festival’s Perspectives on Iran sidebar runs in line with the retrospective of Guest of Honour Rakhshan Banietemad, while the inaugural Podcast Stories programme presents a short series of broadcasts, talks, industry events and screenings that explore the world of audio documentary content.
The Sheffield Industry programme will be announced May 10.
