Sheffield 23

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.

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.”

As a visceral and immersive piece of front-line war coverage, Ukrainian filmmaker and journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s film 20 Days in Mariupol presents a savage and often desperately bleak portrait of a city under siege, and reflects on the bravery of those struggling to survive within it.

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.

A thoughtful and evocative tribute to the life – and talent – of British photographer Tish Murtha, Sheffield DocFest’s opening night film Tish, directed by Paul Sng, traces the life of this innately skilled and driven artist, and details her commitment to fighting for the communities such as the one she grew up in. The film celebrates a woman whose work deserves to stand alongside considerably more acclaimed practitioners of the craft.

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...

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.

The former Director of BFI London LFF and Interim CEO of Sheffield DocFest joins Rotterdam 21 June. “It is dear to my heart as the first international film festival I attended 25 years ago. It shaped my understanding of the interdependencies between cultural activity and industry development, and the importance of engaging a dedicated local audience while positioning a festival as vital for the international, independent film sector,” says Stewart.

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.

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.”