Leading UK documentary festival Sheffield DocFest unveiled May 8 its full Film and Alternate Realities programmes, and public Talks for 2024.
The festival opens on 12 June 2024 with the world premiere of Kevin Macdonald’s Klitschko: More than a Fight, screening in International Competition, about former heavyweight boxing world champion Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir, charting Vitali’s journey from the ring to political office, leading the defence of Kyiv from when it was attacked by Russian forces in February 2022 to the present day.
Annabel Grundy, Sheffield DocFest Managing Director, says: “In planning this year’s edition of DocFest, we have reflected about where we can make a difference, how our programming can counteract false narratives and over simplification, and how we can support our ecosystem at a time when independent journalism, co-authored narratives and deeply reflective works are critical in helping us make sense of the world. I am deeply proud of the team who have created a careful, compassionate and balanced programme always with the filmmakers in mind.”
Film Programme
The Sheffield DocFest 2024 film programme totals 109 films (80 features and 29 shorts), drawn from over 2700 entries, including 48 World Premieres, 14 International Premieres, 17 European Premieres, 29 UK Premieres from 56 countries of production.
Titles screen in three competition sections (see details below) – International Competition, International First Feature Competition and International Short Film Competition. In addition to previously announced Days of Reflection and Guest of Honour Programme, the festival once again presents its Podcast Stories strand and previews of television series episodes in its First Impressions strand.
The International Competition consists of eight World premieres including Tilda Swinton’s feature directorial debut The Hexagonal Hive and a Mouse in a Maze (co-directed with filmmaker Bartek Dziadosz) and the latest film from Croatian director Goran Devic, Pavilion 6.
Out of competition films screen in six strand sections: Rhythms, Debates, People & Community, Memories, Rebellions and Journeys.
Stand-out music documentaries including the World premiere of blur: To the End, the European premiere of Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound, and the UK premiere of Chris Smith’s DEVO.
Raul Niño Zambrano, Sheffield DocFest Creative Director, says: “Curating a programme is a collaborative effort, and I am incredibly grateful for the dedication and commitment of our international advisers, consultants, and staff who have invested their time in assessing all the films, artworks, and talks. The selection we have made together serves as an invitation for reflection, dialogue and empathy, and we can’t wait to share all these stories with our international audience.”
Alternate Realities Programme
The Alternate Realities exhibition programme at Sheffield DocFest showcases innovative non-fiction and immersive documentaries in all forms, breaking the boundaries of traditional documentary practice and using cutting edge technology – including virtual reality, use of artificial intelligence, video gaming platforms, augmented reality, and interactive web documentaries.
This year’s programme will present five immersive works at Site Gallery and is co-curated with the International Documentary Association (IDA), an international collaboration supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
The Alternate Realities Exhibition is curated by Sheffield DocFest Creative Director Raul Niño Zambrano alongside the IDA’s Keisha Knight, Director of Funds, and Abby Sun, Director of Artist Programmes, supported by Alternate Realities Programme Producer Jack Rutherford.
Co-curators Abby Sun & Keisha Knight of International Documentary Association said: We are thrilled to present the Alternate Realities exhibition, with a new participatory and immersive gallery layout. These five incredible works remind us that in documentary, the relationship between reality and new technologies is neither new nor confined to a single headset—and that the most innovative, thought- provoking, and artful work is playful and critical, extending past the merely human while simultaneously diving into the most pressing questions of what it means to be human.”
The exhibition includes Nocturnal Fugue, a multi-sensorial installation that emulates the communicative complexity of bats by renowned artists Jiabao Li and Matt McCorkle; Alongside The Finger Rub Rug by Laura A Dima, a carpet of 1,300 lifelike silicone fingers, each a replica of cast from the artist’s partner, and Sister Sylvester & Deniz Tortum’s Shadowtime, a piece encased in a specially-built camera obscura, that questions our very desire to escape into virtual, enclosed worlds that only seem divorced from our physical, ecological one.
Talks
Sheffield DocFest will present eight public talks which will all be held at the Crucible Theatre. Highlights include Guest of Honour Roger Ross Williams, the critically acclaimed and award-winning director, producer, and writer, and the first African American director to win an Academy Award® who will attend the festival and present a selection of new documentary films from emerging filmmakers.
Williams will participate in two special talks: Social Impact Documentaries – an in-depth talk in which Williams will engage with the directors and producers of program titles Sugarcane, The Battle for Laikipia, Union, Daughters and Stone Mountain, and an In Conversation
in which Williams will discuss his career from his emergence as a filmmaker to his award-winning success and increasing breadths of subjects that span topics such as the black American experience, living with disabilities and the cultural ramifications of Western religion in Africa.
Broadcaster supported talks are BBC Interview with Simon Reeve the author, journalist, explorer and presenter whose career has taken him around the world and through various danger zones, and the Channel 4 interview with Leeds based award-winning filmmaker and creative director of Candour Productions Anna Hall who will discuss her wide-ranging career as a filmmaker and producer of Edge of the City, Catching a Killer to The Push.
Doctor, scientist and broadcaster Chris van Tulleken will be discussing his genre-breaking approach to making science and medicine accessible while producing real world change. And more…
Vanessa Lobón Garcia, Talks & Sessions Senior Producer comments: “Our 2024 Talks encompass and celebrate exciting new voices alongside industry ‘legends’, impact and activism alongside sporting heroes and those striving for social change now and as we revisit our shared histories. We extend immense gratitude to our guests, sponsors, and partners whose support helps us to bring these unique speakers, subjects and talents to Sheffield.”
For details of the full Sheffield DocFest 2024 programme, click here.
COMPETITION TITLES
International Competition: Academy Award accredited.
- At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking (Ko će pokucati na vrata mog doma) – Maja Novaković – Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2024 (World premiere). Maja Novaković’s impressive feature debut blurs the lines between perception, memory and imagination, paving the way for existential contemplation about alienation and connection with poetic grace.
- The Hexagonal Hive and a Mouse in a Maze – Tilda Swinton, Bartek Dziadosz – UK, 2024 (World premiere). Co-directors Tilda Swinton and Bartek Dziadosz travel the world to understand what it means to learn, and along the way uncover playful food for thought – for adults and young people alike.
- Klitschko: More than a Fight (Opening Night Film, details above)
- Light Darkness Light – Landon Van Soest – Canada, UK, USA, 2024 (World premiere). Emmy award winner Landon Van Soest stuns with a portrait of a blind Anglican priest who becomes one of the first recipients of a bionic eye.
- Mother City – Miki Redelinghuys, Pearlie Joubert – South Africa, 2024 (World premiere). Apartheid’s legacy made Cape Town one of the most unwelcoming cities for Black Africans, until a social movement for affordable housing challenged the status quo.
- Pavilion 6 – Goran Devic – Croatia, 2024 (World premiere). As the Croatian population clamours for the vaccination against the COVID-19 virus, this film presents a portrait that offers some insight into a nation’s collective psyche.
- Relentless Memory (Memoria Implacable) – Paula Rodríguez Sickert – Chile, Argentina, 2024 (World premiere). An indigenous Mapuche activist and researcher unveils a multitude of atrocities committed against her ancestors, whose story has been silenced for over a century.
- Stone Mountain – Daniel Newell Kaufman – USA, 2024 (World premiere) (Roger Ross Williams Selection) An eye-opening film that grapples with a country’s inability to reconcile a racist past.
International First Feature Competition (supported by Netflix)
- Bad Reputation (Mala reputación) – Marta García, Sol Infante Zamudio – Uruguay, Argentina, 2024 (World premiere) In Uruguay, a sex worker has had enough – she wants proper recognition for her work and its inclusion in mainstream labour unions.
- The Boy and the Suit of Lights (niño y el traje de luces) – Inma de Reyes – Scotland, UK, 2024 (World premiere). A young boy grows up in a Spanish town with dreams of being a bullfighter in an age when tradition and modernity are in constant conflict.
- Dreams Travel With the Wind (sueños viajan con el viento) – Inti Jacanamijoy – Colombia, 2024 (International premiere). A filmmaker movingly chronicles his Wayuu grandfather’s wrenching history, weaving his memories into a haunting narrative of cultural resilience and loss.
- Kilometre (Кілометр) – Hanna Tykha – Ukraine, 2024 (World premiere). When a vast Chinese factory complex in rural Ethiopia undertakes ambitious expansion plans, the promises of industrialisation are brought into question.
- Made in Ethiopia – Xinyan Yu, Max Duncan – Canada, Ethiopia, USA, UK, 2024 (International premiere). When a vast Chinese factory complex in rural Ethiopia undertakes ambitious expansion plans, the promises of industrialisation are brought into question.
- My Sweet Land (Տունս քաղցր ա) – Sareen Hairabedian – USA, France, Ireland (World premiere). How do you turn a child into a child soldier? This sensitive portrait of 11-year-old Vrej, who lives in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, attempts an answer.
- Silent Men – Duncan Cowles – Scotland, UK, 2024 (World premiere). Director Duncan Cowles takes us on a journey through male mental health, stigma and taboo in the UK.
- Yintah – Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano – Canada, 2024 (European Premiere) (Days of Reflection). Charts the plight of the Wet’suwet’en people, fighting for their land and territory against the Canadian government’s massive fossil fuel pipeline expansion plans.
International Short Film Competition: Academy Award, BAFTA and BIFA-accredited
- The Backstreet – Romain Beck – UK, 2024 (World premiere) (Shorts: Body as Archive). An intimate exploration of four decades of desire, community, love and loss through the eyes of regulars at The Backstreet, an iconic London gay leather club.
- Dancing Palestine – Lamees AlMakkawy – UK, 2024 (World premiere) (Shorts: Body as Archive). In a culture continually threatened with erasure, dancing the dabke, the traditional folk dance of Palestine, becomes an essential form of resistance for young Palestinians.
- Perfected Grammar – Andrea Suwito – Hungary, Portugal, Belgium, Indonesia, 2024 (World premiere) (Shorts: Body as Archive). Through language lessons with her mother, a daughter learns more about her Indonesian roots, her mother’s painful journey, and her longing for a place to call home.
- We Are Fallen Angels – Rosa Vendelboe Vestergaard – Denmark, 2024 (World premiere) (Shorts: Building a Life) A young singer and influencer lives in a dream world of her own making, but behind this glitzy veneer lies a much more complicated reality.
- Angular Phoenix (Latitude fénix) – Welket Bungué – Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, 2024 (World premiere) (Shorts: Haunted by the Present). Reanimating a Baron and the Black Princess, this speculative film summons figures from the past through bodies of the present, in a visceral call for reconciliation.
- De Occulta Imagine – Stefano P. Testa – Italy, 2024 (International premiere) (Shorts: Haunted by the Present). Bringing his cinematic alchemy to the archives of the Italian Labour and Democratic Movement, director Stefano P. Testa transmutes the past with an inimitable presence.
- Blue (Bleu) – Ana Vijdea – Romania, Belgium, Portugal, Hungary, 2024 (World premiere) (Shorts: More Souls Than One). A piercingly intimate glimpse into the complex dynamics in a family where obedience is obligatory and emotions are as unpredictable as the sea.
- Our Lady Who Burns (Nossa Senhora Que Queima) – Alice dos Reis – Portugal, 2024 (World premiere) (Shorts: Sculpted Lands). On a Portuguese mountain, saintly apparitions and alien encounters interweave with the story of a pregnant cat, in a series of paranormal encounters.
- Flowers (Flores) – José Cardoso – Ecuador, South Africa, 2024 (World premiere) (Shorts: Staying with the Trouble). An Amazon ethnocide is justified by a war in Ukraine. It’s streamed online by the filmmaker, while in the garden his three-year-old son marvels at the flowers.
Virtual Reality International Competition
- LETU: Frankie’s Story – Tanzania, 2023 (World premiere) (International Alternate Realities Competition). LETU is an interactive virtual experience that allows you to visit idealised digital worlds for the LGBTQIA+ communities of East Africa.
- Murmuration – Canada, 2023 (World premiere) (International Alternate Realities Competition). Dive into Kanope’s magical realist ocean journey, blending hope with survival in a tale of migration that honours those seeking a better future.
- Perinatal Dreaming. Understanding Country – Australia, 2023 (International premiere) (International Alternate Realities Competition). A meditative and thought provoking work that depicts early life in the womb and entry into the world, whilst exploring the impact of perinatal trauma.
- Queer Utopia: Act I Cruising – Brazil, Portugal, 2023 (UK premiere) (International Alternate Realities Competition). A deeply personal and moving portrayal of a retired playwright’s life experiences, reconstructed through abstract memories that comment on the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights.
- Draw For Change: We Exist, We Resist (Draw For Change: Existimos, Resistimos) – Belgium, 2023 (UK premiere) (International Alternate Realities Competition). Explore Maremoto’s world, where her art empowers women and confronts femicide. Experience her creative process, witness a protest, and navigate the challenges of sexual harassment in Mexico.
- Emperor (Empereur) – France, 2023 (No premiere) (International Alternate Realities Competition). An interactive experience that offers a moving portrayal of a daughter’s attempts to understand and connect with her father, as he suffers from aphasia.
