Sheffield 26

Director River Finlay talks to BDE about her MeetMarket project that follows Chilean Isabel Allende, one of the world’s most widely read authors, as she “looks beyond the stories she tells the world and confronts the ones she tells herself,” and reckoning with an unresolved past, the passage of time, and the renewed rise of authoritarianism. “Her trailblazing as an author for other women writers really is unparalleled, but mostly she really provides this incredible sense of connection and bravery,” says Finlay of her revered subject.

There is hardly a corner of the UK that Doc Rowe, the man described as “Britain’s great folklorist,” hasn’t visited and chronicled. He is indefatigable in his attempts to get to these events, if his health will allow it. “There’s a uniformity to them, in that they speak to people’s need for ritual and belonging, but there is also a uniqueness about every single one of them,” Curry suggests of the folk festivals, and Doc Rowe’s fascination for them.

Rich Felgate's Sheffield DocFest opener We, The Hated is a provocative and intriguing behind-the-scenes look at the work of - and some of the personalities involved in - the British protest group Just Stop Oil, who took part in a series of high-profile protests between 2022 and 2025. Evocatively, perhaps a little clumsily, titled, the film nevertheless wears its heart on its sleeve, especially given that it is directed by the partner of one of the founders of the organisation.

Simple on one level, but in fact deeply complex, Kristof Bilsen’s The Apologist, world-premiering at Sheffield DocFest, examines the ritual of saying “sorry,” and uses that well-known and much utilised phrase as a starting point on a journey to explore how apologies redefine history and what happens to us as witnesses to the act of atonement.

Sheffield DocFest has announced the fifty doc projects for the 2026 edition of MeetMarket, all of which are at various stages of production. “The 2026 MeetMarket programme, which runs 11 to 12 June, is a distinctive and totally varied mix of bold, vivid and socially conscious work,” organisers write. Featured in the line-up are five Rough Cuts, first edits selected to be shown to the UK and international industry delegates in attendance.

The leading UK documentary festival and market announced March 31 the return of its Filmmaker  Challenge, which is supported by principal sponsor Prime Video Pathway. Applications are now open and the deadline to apply is Wednesday 22 April. The new expanded format will support twice as many filmmakers than ever before, and the completed short films will screen June 13. Sheffield DocFest returns to the city from 10 - 15 June with initial programming due to be announced in April 2026.

As we see in the heart-wrenching new documentary, Syrian activist and co-director Wafa Mustafa continues to search for her father Ali, who disappeared under the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad. “Of course, the fall of the regime is a new beginning for humanity, not just for Syria, but the fight continues,” Mustafa tells BDE. “The only thing that will give me hope is fighting every day for other young women not to lose their fathers because they dared to speak politics, or dreamed of a better reality.”

“We are really a nurturing festival. We can take care of each of the films and we promise you will not get lost in an avalanche of too many,” Sheffield DocFest boss Raul Niño Zambrano explains why he favours a streamlined, yet expansive approach within his selection. “I think, for us, balance is the key word,” he reflects on how the festival addresses the huge social and political convulsions of the current era while also finding space for lighter fare.

In her short film selected for Sheffield 2026, Netherlands-based Uyghur filmmaker Darya Andijan invokes the ancient myth of Gülem, a forgotten goddess of carpet weaving. The film is highly poetic and personal as it weaves female narratives across borders, all the time set against a background of oppression, and China’s erasure both of the Uyghur language and its sense of identity. “Globalisation is failing us, and people need a different hold on where their home is and what their identity is,” says Andijan.

Sheffield Industry’s biggest prize, The Whickers Pitch, Film & TV Funding Award 2026, which includes a pot of £120,000, went to Children of Honey directed by Jigar Ganatra and Emanuel Musa Marco. The Whickers Development Prize of £25,000 went to Welcome to Our Bathhouse directed by Tommaso Barbetta. All prizes…