Sheffield 23

The leading UK docfest invites audiences and professionals alike to “spark [their] curiosity” for documentary from June 14 to 19. 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 fest opens with the world premiere of Paul Sng’s Tish.

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.

At Sheffield 2023 Business Doc Europe sat down with Kim Christiansen of DR Sales. DR Sales is the international sales department of the Danish public broadcaster and one of the leading Nordic distributors of high-end audiovisual productions – in particular, the team focuses on award-winning documentaries, drama series and children’s content.

The 2023 programme includes: 21 Industry sessions, Craft Summit sessions, 4 Marketplace sessions, 4 Live Pitch sessions, The Filmmaker Challenge (with Kevin Macdonald), an Alternate Realities Summit, 6 Marketplace Rough Cuts and selected BFI DocSociety Works In Progress screenings (by invitation), as well as the 2023 MeetMarket pitching forum.

After being diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour, filmmaker Kit Vincent sets about enlisting his family on an intimate and darkly humorous journey that he hopes will help them come to terms with his illness. Unsurprisingly, this cinematic journey is more complex, emotional and engagingly offbeat than he might have first intended, and his plan to point the camera anywhere but at himself proves temporary before realising that only he, himself, can be the centre of the film’s story.

Get back, hands off, go for it! Producer Simon Halfon discusses his new feature length doc about the great 1980s band Wham, which featured 'young guns' George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. As soon as he pitched his idea, Halfon knew the film was a goer. “Within a heartbeat, we had this dream team of Chris Smith, John Battsek and Kate Townsend (Netflix),” he says.

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.”

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?”

The Grand Jury Award for the International Competition went to In the Rearview by Maciek Hamela (Poland, France, Ukraine) while the top prize in International First Feature Competition went to Q by Jude Chehab (USA, Lebanon, 2023). All winners including Industry Awards: The Whickers Pitch, Channel 4 First Cut Pitch, BBC Storyville Development Pitch, The Podcast Pitch…

Netflix announced June 13 the five filmmaking teams who will receive funding and professional support to make a short documentary on the theme of ‘Connection,’ as part of the second roll-out of of the Netflix Documentary Talent Fund. Each team will now produce a short doc of 8-12 minutes with a budget of £30,000 that will be released on Netflix’s YouTube channel in the New Year.