Sheffield First Feature Comp: A Year In A Field by Christopher Morris
Cornwall-based filmmaker Christopher Morris talks to BDE about his debut feature, made at the ripe old age of 60 and located within a field with a single standing stone. “I can’t describe why but there is something about that field, something about the position of the stone in relation to the sea and the surrounding landscape,” the director observes of the uncanny power of the place.
Sheffield DocFest Int’l Comp: If Only Night Wouldn’t Fall by Marc Schmidt
In his latest film, Dutch director Marc Schmidt looks at how mental sensibilities are treated and/or prevented in different societies: the Netherlands, Norway and the US. “My interest in these themes is not just coming from my personal background, but is also intellectually motivated: what other ways are there to receive reality, than the shared reality of daily life, based on causality?”
Sheffield DocFest/Tribeca: The Gullspång Miracle by Maria Fredriksson
When Swedish Maria Fredriksson was contacted by two sisters about their discovery of a twin of their older sister who had committed suicide more than 30 years before, little did the docmaker know that this was just the beginning of an increasingly dark journey into the unknown. Fredriksson talks to BDE about a film that packs more jaw-dropping WTF moments into its 100 minutes than are humanly imaginable.
Sheffield Shorts Resist: Three Windows On South West by Mariia Ponomarova
Netherlands-based Ukrainian filmmaker Mariia Ponomarova talks about her new doc which was developed, shot and now completed in the year since Sheffield 2022. The film focuses on three windows of her old family apartment in Kyiv, as we hear the director’s mother, friends and a former lover reminiscing on the soundtrack. “It was necessary for me to do something quite quickly because it was important and dear to me. It is quite a personal story and I had to externalise it.”
Sheffield DocFest Rebellions: While We Watched by Vinay Shukla
Fictional newsrooms in movies don’t have half the tension and excitement of the one shown in Indian director Vinay Shukla’s feature documentary While We Watched (a UK premier in Sheffield Doc Fest’s Rebellions strand). The film follows charismatic Hindi TV news journalist Ravish Kumar, a figure with a gravitas and authority reminiscent of US journalist Ed Murrow. Director Shukla talks to Business Doc Europe.
Sheffield DocFest Rhythms: Dalton’s Dream by Kim Longinotto and Franky Murray Brown
It was a documentary expected to be made in three months. Dalton’s Dream (a world premiere at Sheffield Doc Fest on June 15) ended up taking over four years. When effervescent young pansexual Jamaican singer Dalton Harris won UK TV talent show The X-Factor in 2018, directors Kim Longinotto and Franky Murray Brown planned to film him as he launched his career in earnest as a recording artist. Until real life in the form of acute homophobia intervened...
Sheffield DocFest Journeys: Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini by Charly Wai Feldman
The doc profiles the brilliant Syrian swimmer and activist who, after an act of immense courage in helping to save a boatful of refugees off the Greek coast, was arrested three years later, after returning to Greece to help other migrants, and charged with trafficking, spying and money laundering. Director Feldman thought her film would be about the “criminalisation of humanitarian work.” But when she met her subject it became a much more complex, personal and open-ended story, she tells BDE.
Sheffield interview: MD Annabel Grundy, Creative Director Raul Niño Zambrano
On the eve of its 30th edition, Sheffield DocFest toppers Annabel Grundy and newly appointed Creative Director Raul Niño Zambrano explain the appeal of one of the world’s leading doc events, and the city that hosts it. “There are lots of things about Sheffield that really chime with docs…in terms of independent spirit, doing it yourself, succeeding against the odds,” says Grundy. “You have to be scrappy to get stuff made in the north.”
Krakow Film Festival Int’l Doc Comp: The Dmitriev Affair by Jessica Gorter
Dutch Jessica Gorter’s new film tells the story of Yuri Dmitriev, a man who has dedicated his life to identifying and naming the tens of thousands who perished during the Great Terror under Stalin. “When I was in the middle of editing The Red Soul I got the phone call saying that he was arrested,” Gorter says. “I guess that was the moment when I really decided, ‘okay, so I need to make this film. I need to know where this is going.’”
Krakow FF Int’l Comp: Unpaved by Mikael Lypinski
Polish director Mikael Lypinski talks to Business Doc Europe about his new film Unpaved, sold by Sideways Film and world-premiering in Krakow, in which he once again profiles a community of US folk living in the margins of society, this time within a forest sanctuary in Oregon.
