Sheffield DocFest announced May 1 that Kim Hopkins’ Still Pushing Pineapples will world-premiere June 18 as the festival’s opening film. Hopkins returns to DocFest following her 2022 Audience Award for A Bunch of Amateurs.
“Still Pushing Pineapples offers audiences a melancholy yet heartfelt look into the story of Dene Michael, the former singer of Black Lace and pop band behind the novelty Brit party favourite ‘Agadoo’. The film follows the lead singer’s journey on the road with his aging mother and a partner, as he aims for a comeback,” writes DocFest. “Director, producer and cinematographer Kim Hopkins directs and delves into the entertainment, working class culture, human connection, power of pop and the state of Britain in this funny, irreverent road movie.”
Sheffield DocFest Managing Director, Mimi Poskitt, comments: “Opening with Still Pushing Pineapples is a celebration of everything we champion at DocFest. This is a deeply intimate and beautifully crafted observation on working-class life rooted in Yorkshire, from celebrated Northern female filmmaker, Kim Hopkins. Her empathetic approach and careful unfolding of Dean’s story – particularly the bond between mother and son – reflect the very best of British documentary filmmaking. Kim, alongside a strong, female-led team, has taken bold creative risks, and the results are truly remarkable. There is nothing more wonderful than to see a project come to its full fruition and this gem of an idea first found its footing in our MeetMarket. From there, and with the backing of significant partners, it is now on our screens – a testament to the strength and vibrancy of the UK’s documentary industry.”
Director Kim Hopkins comments: “What an absolute honour to open Sheffield Doc Fest with our latest feature documentary Still Pushing Pineapples…The film asks profound questions about happiness, survival, and the indifference of a country leaving many behind, whilst crafting an ode to those who persevere despite adversity. When Black Lace hit Top of the Pops in the 80s, a glib DJ remarked: ‘Don’t you always wonder who is in that fruit?’—referring to the giant dancing fruit backing-singers. I did wonder if Dene had nightmares about having turned into a giant pineapple. Had the strange fruit that fed him, also devoured him? Through his four-decade long career in an industry that’d forced him to smile 45,000 times, Dene—though now a pineapple—never lost his humanity, his kindness, his hope. Still Pushing Pineapples explores the resilience and humanity of Dene, who embodies the spirit of ordinary working-class people amid a crumbling industrial disorder.“
The film is a Labor of Love Films production in association with Tigerlily Two and One Wave Films, directed and filmed by Kim Hopkins, and produced by Margareta Szabo. Nikki Parrott serves as an executive producer and Nan Davies as a co-producer. The film was edited by Leah Marino and composed by Terence Dunn. Executive producers are: Luke W. Moody, Mark Thomas, Dani Carlaw, Kiah Simpson, Kim Warner, Caroline Cooper Charles and Herbert Lockwood. International Sales are handled by MetFilm.
BBC Interview
This year’s BBC Interview is with Professor Brian Cox, the physicist whose successful career has spanned across broadcasting, science and music. His body of work includes ‘Wonders of the Universe’, ‘Wonders of Life’ and ‘Wonders of the Solar System.’ Cox has become known to many for helping to popularise the wonders of science and has received many awards for doing so.
Norma Percy and Lucy Heatherington
The festival announced that British journalist Nina Hossain will chair a talk with the award-winning documentary producers Norma Percy and Lucy Heatherington to discuss their careers and the stories they have been able to tell on screen over the years.
“Norma Percy, one of the most influential political documentarians of our time, has spent four decades redefining how world events are captured on screen. With landmark series like The Death of Yugoslavia; Putin vs the West, and Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October, Norma has brought audiences face-to-face with global leaders and revealed the power struggles shaping our world,” the festival writes.
“Executive producer Lucy Hetherington has worked with Norma on several series and has led legally and editorially sensitive award-winning projects across factual programmes, including current affairs, delivering landmark projects for the BBC. In this wide-ranging conversation with Nina Hossain, Percy and Hetherington will explore the challenges and craft of telling complex political stories in a fractured media landscape, while navigating the demands of a rapidly changing world.”
