Sheffield 22

A group of dogged cinephiles who meet every Monday night to socialise, drink cups tea and show their films are the heroes of Kim Hopkins’ new documentary A Bunch Of Amateurs, sold by MetFilms and receiving its world premiere in International Competition at Sheffield DocFest this week. The director sits down for a brew with Business Doc Europe.

A deeply prescient and gently revealing documentary, One Day in Ukraine delivers just as the title states…a snapshot of one day in a country under siege as ordinary people (and sometimes extraordinary ones) go about their lives, whether it be preparing food or walking devastated streets, heavily armed and ready to fight.

Back in 2012 director Rodrigo Reyes was the California court interpreter at the trial of 19-year old Sansón, accused of murder. After being found guilty he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. But Reyes was always troubled by the trial. “I never got to hear his story,” he says. “Everything was focused on a single moment, on the incident that brought him to court, but not on who he was or where he came from.” The director therefore set out to tell the personal history of Sansón.

“Time,” director Barney Douglas tells Business Doc Europe when asked just how he managed to prise tennis star John McEnroe so far out of his shell in his revealing and intimate new feature documentary, McEnroe, receiving its international premiere at Sheffield Doc Fest in advance of its UK release next month.

Half a century before #MeToo, the revolutionary, iconoclastic, firebrand feminist Andrea Dworkin was calling out gender inequality and the pervasiveness of sexism. Dworkin was a woman whose political radicalism was shaped by the sexual and physical abuse she suffered, yet when alive she was applauded and derided in equal measure. In the feature doc selected for International Competition Pratibha Parmar reflects on one of the 20th Century’s most brilliant but polarizing figures.

Bob Rosenzweig is an abrasive, quick-witted Jewish New Yorker, devoted to his family. He loves to play the guitar drink a whisky and tell stories about his wild, carefree youth - how he went to Woodstock as a teenager and his encounters with famous rock stars. But Bob is also suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and has decided he wants to end his life, a process that Amiel Courtin-Wilson chronicles in his new film, selected for International Competition. Courtin-Wilson talks to BDE.

Doc Society will be a major presence at Sheffield DocFest this week. The UK not for profit foundation, which has run the BFI Doc Society Fund since 2018, will have 10 films screening in the festival, including the world premiere in competition of Kim Hopkins’ crowd-pleaser A Bunch Of Amateurs, sold by MetFilms, and presents 6 works-in-progress. Doc Soc’s Shanida Scotland and Sandra Whipham tell BDE what to expect.

Sheffield DocFest announced June 16 the Focus: Filmmaker Talent initiative, devised by Guest Curator Asif Kapadia who has invited six filmmakers to make a short documentary, in and around Sheffield, during the festival. All filming is to be undertaken in a single day and the final work will be screened on the last day of Sheffield DocFest. The initiative is supported by Amazon Studios, Canon and The Kurious.

The leading UK doc showcase unveils the full Film programme, Alternate Realities exhibitions, Industry programme and Talks & Sessions for its 29th edition. 38 World Premieres, 22 International Premieres, 11 European Premieres in the film programme including new works by Emma Davie, Werner Herzog and Rodrigo Reyes. 5 World Premieres, 6 International Premieres, 3 European Premieres in Alternate Realities.

The nine films selected for this year’s Sheffield DocFest International Competition include five world & four international premieres. The winner of Best Film, supported by BBC Studios Documentary Unit, will be revealed during a ceremony at Sheffield City Hall’s Memorial Hall on 28 June. The in-person festival runs 23-28 June.