Sheffield DocFest announced January 30 that Patrizia Mancini will join the team in January 2024 to lead the festival’s industry strategy and activity including Marketplace, with oversight of the festival Industry programme and year-round activity.
From 2017 to 2021 Mancini was International Development Executive and then Head of Talents & International Development at Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, one of the leading events in documentary co-production. In 2022 she came back to distribution as a consultant for sales and acquisitions, working alongside Liselot Verbrugge and Hanne Biermann at Deckert Distribution GmbH.
From January 2023 Patrizia has been working as a freelancer consultant assisting international producers and working as jury member for markets such as CoPro, Sunny Side of the Doc, East Doc Platform, MIA Doc Rome, DMZ Docs, IDFA and others.
Comments Mancini: “In the past years I have always looked at Sheffield DocFest as one of the most engaging and inspiring festivals dedicated to documentaries. Its commitment towards diversity and inclusion, the dedication to involve communities and young audiences, the line-up of great documentaries shown at the festival as well all the activities for professionals…All this and more make it a not-to-be-missed meeting and I couldn’t be happier at the perspective of starting this new exciting adventure alongside my new colleagues!”
Other new appointments are Sophie Duncan as Marketplace & Talent Programmes Producer, Lisa Marie Russo as Marketplace Consultant, Vanessa Lobón Garcia as Talks and Sessions Senior Producer, and Lieven Heeremans (Podcast Programme Producer).
MeetMarket
Elsewhere, Sheffield’s market programme for documentary projects at all stages of development is still open for entries. Selected projects will have the opportunity to meet with international industry representatives among 150+ international funders, broadcasters, distributors, festival programmers and exhibitors.
Past projects to pass through MeetMarket while in development/production include All That Breathes(Shaunak Sen), Searching for Sugarman (Malik Bendjelloul), A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia), One Child Nation (Nanfu Wang), Tish (Paul Sng), and many more. The deadline for MeetMarket applications is Tuesday 6 February 2024, 16:00 GMT
Film Programme Entries Open
Sheffield DocFest’s 2024 Film Programme is still open for entries. “We welcome documentary films of all lengths and from all around the world, that wish to be considered for premiering as part of our 2024 official selection,” write organisers.
Standard deadline: 9 February 2024, 12:00 Noon GMT
Late deadline: 1 March 2024, 12:00 Noon GMT (late entry fees payable)
