FESTIVAL REPORT
LOOKING BACK AT OUR 31ST EDITION
FESTIVAL OVERVIEW
SHEFFIELD DOCFEST IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S LEADING DOCUMENTARY FESTIVALS, AND THE UK’S MOST IMPACTFUL FILM AND TV MARKETPLACE.
We believe in the transformative power of documentaries to spark curiosity, engage audiences, and foster meaningful discussions. For our 31st edition, we centred our festival curation around the theme: Reflections on Realities and presented a series of Conversations about interconnected themes affecting us all: Freedom of the Press, Ancestral Lands, Co-resistance, and Archiving the Present, welcoming films and guests from Canada, Israel, Mexico, Palestine, and Ukraine to speak on these topics.
We opened the festival with the World Premiere of Kevin Macdonald’s Klitschko: More Than a Fight –an incredible journey following 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 as Mayor, when it was attacked by Russian forces in February 2022 to the present day.
Our 2024 Guest of Honour, Roger Ross Williams, curated and presented a programme of urgent new works by Black and diaspora documentary filmmakers working around the globe, culminating in an inconversation panel discussion about these works, and a masterclass interview with Roger himself.
Across the festival, our public admissions grew significantly, again, by more than 25%, proving that documentary in the cinema has the power to inspire and engage cinephiles, the doc-curious and first timers alike; and our talks programme brought inperson talks and insight from incredible British talent including Anna Hall, Idris Elba, Walter Murch, Michael Sheen and Frank Bruno. Further headline filmmaker conversations included director Daniel Gordon on the Audience-award winning World premiere of Strike: An Uncivil War and Lucy Walker on the European premiere of Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa with Lhakpa Sherpa herself in attendance. World, international and UK premieres included new offerings from Tilda Swinton, Waad Al-Kataeb and Brett Story.
Right Opening Night Film Conversation 2024
Photo by David Chang
FESTIVAL OVERVIEW
Feedback from audiences for the 2024 edition was overwhelmingly positive: 41% of them attended more than 4 films or events and 99% of them had a good, or better, time with us! More than 30% of our public audiences came from outside of South Yorkshire, some even travelling from overseas, from Japan, Poland, the USA, New Zealand, and from all over the UK from Leeds, to Edinburgh, to London.
Film entries grew to more than 2700, from which final selection presented 108 films (79 features and 29 shorts), including 47 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, 14 European Premieres, and 34 UK Premieres. Films came from 57 countries of production with 50 languages represented across 205 screenings in Sheffield cinemas and venues. More than 87% of films were presented with attending directors, producers and/or subjects, bringing talent and subjects to the festival along with their stories.
Looking beyond feature-docs we expanded our Podcast programme, adding industry sessions and returning the Podcast Pitch alongside new episodes and discussion with makers. First Impressions, our TV preview strand returned with four new series exploring Black British boxing legends, an intimate portrait of author Hanif Kureishi, life in North Korea and the enduring appeal of Cults in the US.
New partnership with the International Documentary Association (IDA) co-curated a programme of truly immersive XR, VR and interactive artworks in Site Gallery, augmented by live Bat Jam DJ set, a sound bath, and the chance to cast your own fingers inspired by Laura Dima’s fascinating The Finger Rub Rug
Our Industry Talks programme explored important topics including violence against women on screen, rewriting Black and Asian British History and the need to support freelancers at a critical and turbulent time for our sector, while the Craft Summit explored everything from Archives to AI.
The MeetMarket selected and supported 50 projects for curated 121 meetings and Rough Cut presentations, helping international filmmakers, buyers, funds and co-producers to connect with one another and do business, across these events and a wider programme of marketplace activity open to all festival delegates.
…I’M WORRIED FOR YOU BECAUSE I’M NOT SURE HOW EVERY YEAR YOU’RE GOING TO KEEP TOPPING THE LAST YEAR. HOW CRAZY IS IT THAT EVEN AFTER OUR WHITE NANNY BLACK CHILD FESTIVAL DEBUT LAST YEAR, I ENJOYED THIS YEAR EVEN MORE THAN THAT. KEEP BEING YOU KEEP BEING TRUE, KEEP IT REAL, REALLY REAL.”
Andy Mundy Castle – Filmmaker and 2024 juror
SPECIAL PROGRAMMES
Guest of Honour: Roger Ross Williams
Our 2024 Guest of Honour was Roger Ross Williams, critically acclaimed and award-winning director, producer, and writer – and the first African American director to win an Academy Award®, with his film Music by Prudence
Williams’ impactful and diverse range of documentary films span topics such as the black American experience, living with disabilities and the cultural ramifications of Western religion in Africa.
Roger Ross Williams presented a specially curated programme of five impactful films and moderated a panel discussion with the filmmakers exploring the social impact of documentaries. The films in this programme presented well-crafted stories that shed light on oppressive histories in order to disassemble their effect in both the present and future; the films not only tackle important subjects, they are poetic and creative. A further In Conversation talk, discussing and reflecting on his career, completed the 2024 programme, moderated by We Are Parable’s Carmen Thompson.
Podcast Stories
The second edition of Podcast Stories, launched in 2023, introduced public and industry audiences to current documentary audio initiatives. In the public programme, three live events were presented: a live recording of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral; and two ‘Podcast Live’ discussions with makers and subjects together: one involving 2023 Podcast Pitch winner Time, Paper, Bone; and the other exploring Sheffieldbased audio producers Dan and Lucy Ashby’s The Last Witness with Welsh actor Michael Sheen in attendance.
For industry delegates, we returned the sophomore edition of the Podcast Pitch, in partnership with The Whickers, and an industry session from BBC Studios on Adapting Podcasts for TV, with a panel of experts including Danny Robins, creator of the hugely popular BBC Sounds and now BBC Two series Uncanny.
Left
Roger Ross Williams Right Michael Sheen
Below Right Libby Liburd, Podcast Pitch 2024
Photo by Anh Do
SPECIAL PROGRAMMES
First Impressions
Our TV strand, previewing and celebrating these upcoming noteworthy nonfiction series, spotlights key episodes followed by a discussion by the creative team behind each series.
2024 First Impressions events, all with directors and talents in attendance, took us from an examination with director Marian Mohamed of the largest mass murder-suicide in American history in Cult Massacre: One Day In Jonestown; to a deep dive into the careers of four leading Black British Boxers with conversation including Frank Bruno and the filmmaking team in Four Kings.
How To Survive A Dictator: North Korea, welcomed Munya Chawawa back to the festival to discuss his latest exploration into international political figures; and In My Own Words: Hanif Kureishi, brought audiences closely into the history, practice and a remote Conversation with Hanif Kureishi
Filmmaker Challenge
For the third edition of Filmmaker Challenge, we selected six early-career UK-based documentary directors to rise to the challenge of a film made on the fly – shot in one day and then presented two days later to a live audience. Our Filmmaker Mentor was award-winning filmmaker and friend of the festival, Julie Cohen (RBG, Every Body, My Name is Pauli Murray), providing support, inspiration and critical feedback to the cohort.
This year’s filmmakers were: Asena Nour, Hannah Ava Dahl, Julia Mervis, Louisa Rechenbach, Marta Miskaryan and Tanicha Toro-Oloto.
Below
Frank Bruno and Four Kings team
Photo by David Chang
FILM PROGRAMME
1 Strike: An Uncivil War
Daniel Gordon / UK / 2024
2 No Other Land
Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal / Palestine, Norway / 2024
3 Yintah
Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano / Canada / 2024 4 Daughters
Natalie Rae, Angela Patton / USA / 2024 5 Life on the Edge
Johnny Langenheim, Sebastian Feehan / Greenland, United Kingdom / 2024
Silent Men Duncan Cowles / Scotland, United Kingdom / 2024 7 Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa
Lucy Walker / USA / 2023 8 An Army of Women
Julie Lunde Lillesæter / Norway, Germany, USA / 2024 9 Sugarcane
Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie / Canada, USA, Italy / 2024 10 We Can Be Heroes
Carina Mia Wong, Alex Simmons / USA / 2024
I JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS FESTIVAL SUCH A SPECIAL AND SAFE PLACE, ESPECIALLY FOR THE FILMMAKERS OF DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS. HAVING THREE SOLD OUT SCREENINGS GAVE ME SO MUCH HOPE FOR A DIFFERENT FUTURE. I ONLY WISH I COULD SHARE THIS AMAZING EXPERIENCE WITH YUSEF AND MARIELLE.”
WHAT AN AMAZING TIME! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING ME, SHEFFIELD WAS STELLAR! CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHAT NEXT YEAR BRINGS.”
Mahdokht Mahmoudabadi, Filmmaker – Three Promises
Roger Ross Williams, 2024 Guest of Honour
Roger Ross William in Conversation
Photo by David Chang
PROJECTS
17 23 13 7122 ALTERNATE REALITIES PROGRAMME ATTENDANCE
Our Alternate Realities programme was initiated in 2013 and developed into a full programme and exhibition in 2014. For over ten years the exhibition has celebrated 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.
For our 31st edition, we initiated a new collaboration with the International Documentary Association (IDA) to present a co-curated selection of handpicked immersive artworks alongside our competitive VR strand and the all-day Alternate Realities Summit conference. AR was also embedded into cinemas, with screenings of ‘telepathic’ film Distant Feeler and the interactive film experience Traces of Responsibility.
COUNTRIES ARTISTS
The exhibition and VR cinema showcased a range of Alternate Realities works, including exhibition pieces Remember This Place: 31°20’46’’N 34°46’46’’E, the Finger Rub Rug, Gong: Sounds of Sheffield, Nocturnal Fugue, and VR cinema works Perinatal Dreaming, Understanding Country and Draw For Change: We Exist, We Resist.
There were live events, too – visitors enjoyed a live sound bath experience of Gong: Sounds of Sheffield from practitioner Muna Mcadie and with ‘Bat Jam’ artists Jiabao Li and Matt McCorkle performed a live bat-inspired music performance of Nocturnal Fugue. Using bat vocalisations as an artistic and mesmerising instrument, this musical performance invited the audience into the complex world of bat communication.
THIS CURATORIAL INTERVENTION HOVERS AROUND INTERSECTIONS OF EMBODIMENT AND IMMERSIVE TECH. WE ARE CURIOUS ABOUT THE DIFFERENT WAYS THAT IDEAS AND EXPERIENCES OF EMBODIMENT MANIFEST THROUGH ART AND MEDIA PRACTICE: THE SOUNDS, THE SMELLS, THE TEXTURES, THE VIBRATIONS, THE INTERSPECIES COMMUNION, THE GROTESQUE, THE FANTASTICAL, AND THE BANAL. THIS PROGRAM IS ALL ABOUT SPILLAGE AND THE LIMITS OF CONTAINMENT.”
Keisha Knight (Director – Funds and Advocacy, IDA) Co-curator 2024 Alternate Realities programme
Nocturnal Fugue 2024 Alternate Realities programme
Photo by David Chang
FESTIVAL AWARDS
International Competition (Grand Jury Award)
At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking
Maja Novaković / Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina / 2024
Special Mention
Mother City
Miki Redelinghuys, Pearlie Joubert / South Africa / 2024
Jurors
Heather Haynes, Mohamed Saïd Ouma and Havana Marking.
International First Feature Competition
Supported by Netflix
The Boy and the Suit of Lights
Inma de Reyes / Scotland, UK / 2024
Special Mention
Silent Men
Duncan Cowles / Scotland, UK / 2024
Jurors
Liselot Verbugge, Kristine Barford and Diego Pino Anguita
International Short Film Competition
Flowers
José Cardoso / South Africa, Ecuador / 2024
Special Mention
Dancing Palestine
Lamees Almakkawy / United Kingdom / 2024
Jurors
Andy Mundy-Castle, Lindsay Poulton and Moustapha Sawadogo
Tim Hetherington Award
Presented in association with Dogwoof
No Other Land
Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal / Palestine, Norway / 2024
Jurors
Joan Parsons, Toni Kamau and Mariia Tsypiashchuk.
Youth Jury Award
HAIYU – Rebel Singer Mariem Hassan and the Struggle for a Free Western Sahara
Alex Veitch, Brahim B. Ali, Mohamedsalem Uered, Anna Klara Åhrén / Sweden, Western Sahara / 2024
Special Mention Life on the Edge
Johnny Langenheim, Sebastian Feehan / Greenland, United Kingdom / 2024
Jurors
Luke Dobson, Rose Grover, Arabella Ladiero, Mikey Pugh and Sakura Singh Corke.
International Virtual Reality Competition
Perinatal Dreaming. Understanding Country Marianne Wobcke, Volker Keuchelmeister, Lucia Barrera / Australia / 2023
Jurors
Abby Sun, John O’Shea and Zinha Morgan-Bennett
Audience Award
Strike: An Uncivil War
Dan Gordon / UK / 2024 / World Premiere
WITH CINEMATIC EXCELLENCE THE DIRECTOR SLOWLY REVEALS A STORY OF ISOLATION AND TRAUMA IN A LANDSCAPE OF BEAUTY YET DEEP HISTORIAL SCARS. AN EMERGING DIRECTOR TO WATCH.”
International Competition jury on At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking
JOURNALISTIC DOCS WITNESS WHAT WE MUST NOT FORGET, ERASE OR REWRITE.THIS IS A POWERFUL COLLABORATION AMONGST JOURNALISTS FROM OPPOSITE SIDES OF A POLITICAL GULF, WHO COME TOGETHER TO TELL THE STORY OF THE CONTINUED DESTRUCTION OF MASAFER YATTA IN PALESTINE.”
Tim Hetherington award jury on No Other Land
Winner and Special Mention of the International Competition Grand Jury Award, with two attending jurors
Photo by David Chang
TALKS & SESSIONS PROGRAMME
Our 2024 Talks and Sessions programme addressed a wide range of topics, providing audiences with the essential tools and insights to navigate the most pressing issues facing the industry, both nationally and internationally. These ranged from sessions around creating powerful investigative documentaries and the history of trade unions, to the use of AI and archive-inspired storytelling showcasing new advancements and possibilities in documentary production. Additionally, they provided insights into working with major platforms in the documentary space, and on how to have a sustainable long-term career with practical sessions on budgeting, funding, mental health, and navigating the unique challenges of freelancing.
More than 200 speakers & facilitators joined us for an expanded programme of 51 talks, sessions, craft summit and pitches.
Talks and Conversations were headlined by Idris Elba, Munya Chawawa, Julie Adenuga, Frank Bruno, Walter Murch, Anna Hall, Chris van Tulleken and Simon Reeve
We also presented special screening events: from Strike: An Uncivil War to celebrating British music with the World Premiere of blur: To The End, Hak Baker’s performance following the premiere of autobiographical documentary HAKEEM to a live mixed screening of Eno. The Cimarrons, reggae legends from 2024 film Harder than the Rock, even joined us for our Reggae Party for an unforgettable night.
MORE THAN
Below
Anna Hall
TALKS & SESSIONS PROGRAMME
PITCHES
Whickers Pitch
Film & TV Funding Award (£100,000)
Camels of the Sea
Vikram Singh (India)
Development Prize (£20,000)
Replica
Chouwa Liang (China)
Judges
Jane Mote, Raul Niño Zambrano, David Green, Fozia Khan, Ibrahim Nash’at and Robin Smith
Podcast Pitch
Supported by The Whickers
First Prize (£5,000)
Rewriting the Narrative
Christina Hardinge (UK)
Second Prize (£2,000)
Degenerate Matt Durai (Malaysia)
Judges
Daniel Clarke, Michelle Martin and Lisa Hack
Channel 4 First Cut Pitch
Channel 4 First Cut Pitch saw five short-listed directors present and discuss a 3-minute microdocumentary on the themed brief “The Change”.
Winner
Helen Waddell
Prize
A commission from Channel 4 for their first 60-minute film, and one month of fully-paid development with an indie to support the development of their idea.
Judges
Sacha Mirzoeff, Rita Daniels, Luned Tonderai and Joseph Bullman
Top 5 Talks & Sessions rated by DocFest Audiences 1 Podcast Live: Time, Paper, Bone
Chris van Tulleken in Conversation 3 Simon Reeve in Conversation 4 Roger Ross Wiliams in Conversation
5 Channel 4 interview: Anna Hall
Below
Chris van Tulleken
WE PARTICIPATED IN THE PODCAST PITCH; IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST FUN AND ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCES WE’VE HAD ATTENDING A FESTIVAL. THE TEAM WAS SO ATTENTIVE AND YOU COULD TELL THEY GENUINELY CARED FOR US AND OUR PROJECTS. THANK YOU!”
Farrago Collective
I LOVE COMING TO SHEFFIELD DOCFEST. IT’S THE GROUNDING IN MY YEAR: A CHANCE TO MEET UP WITH OLD FRIENDS BUT, MORE IMPORTANTLY, I ALWAYS LEAVE FEELING INSPIRED BY SOME WORK THAT I’VE SEEN OR SOMEONE’S BRAVERY IN WHY THEY MADE A FILM OR FULL OF AWE AT SOMEONE’S BEAUTIFUL CREATIVITY & STORYTELLING.”
Anna Hall (2024 Channel 4 Interview)
INDUSTRY MARKETPLACE
50
MEETMARKET PROJECTS
FILMMAKER CHALLENGE PARTICIPANTS
Marketplace days ran from Wednesday–Friday in the beautiful Cutlers’ Hall, delivering an expanded programme of marketplace events and more than 1000 match-made meetings for the selected projects.
Drawn from over 500 entries and with a final selection of 50, MeetMarket project teams met face to face with industry representatives from companies such as Netflix, Al Jazeera Documentary Channel and Al Jazeera Balkans, Misfits Entertainment, Ford Foundation, ARTE France, ARTE/ZDF, RTS, RAI Documentari, BBC, CBC, Chicken & Egg Pictures, IDA, Sundance Institute, The Guardian and NHK.
We also continued to collaborate with BFI Doc Society, showing selected scenes from four Work In Progress projects supported by Doc Society to industry representatives. 1054
ALTERNATE REALITIES TALENT ARTISTS
AMPLIFY PARTICIPANTS
Industry representatives came from countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA.
For the second year, well attended Rough Cut Screenings showcased 5 selected projects with countries of production and co-production including Colombia, France, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Switzerland, UK and USA.
INDUSTRY MARKETPLACE
Talent Schemes
Our talent programmes supported 27 early-career makers, crew, artists and critics, across four talent development programmes: Alternate Realities Talents, supporting emerging immersive, AR and XR artists; Amplify Production Talents, supporting below the line UK TV production talent; DocFest Youth Jury, nurturing the next generation of curators, critics and creatives; and the third edition of DocFest’s Filmmaker Challenge, supporting six early-career documentary directors mentored this year by Oscar and BAFTAnominated filmmaker Julie Cohen.
All our Talent Programmes are free to apply to and participate in, with additional support offered for many participants to access the festival.
2024 Amplify Talents
Esme Hedley, Klaudia Slowik, Lauren May Dawkins, Louis Allen, Nathalie Mayer, Reannon Licorish, Siobhan Bahl and Tamar Mankassarian
2024 AR Talents
Amparo Fortuny, Debbie Harman, Estela Oliva, Nicholas Carn, Patricia Lalla, Ruth Mariner, Tatiana Collet Apraxine, and Yasmin Khan
2024 Youth Jury
Luke Dobson, Rose Grover, Arabella Ladiero, Mikey Pugh and Sakura Singh Corke
2024 Filmmaker Challenge Participants
Asena Nour, Hannah Ava Dahl, Julia Mervis, Louisa Rechenbach, Marta Miskaryan and Tanicha Toro-Oloto
I FEEL SO LUCKY TO BE WORKING BEHIND THE SCENES AT SUCH AN IMPORTANT FESTIVAL. IT’S AN UNMATCHED
Luke Dobson, Youth Jury
MARKETPLACE SESSIONS & PITCHES
In addition to our regular market events Snap Chats: 10 Minute Meets and industry roundtables, our collaboration with the #DocSafe initiative hosted a private roundtable to discuss wellbeing and safety within the industry. We continued our collaboration with the EURODOC BIPOC Group, who chose DocFest as the first international event to publicly present themselves, the challenges and the goals of the community, through an industry session and two closed meetings with stakeholders and filmmakers.
Co-production networking breakfasts returned for both days of MeetMarket, collaborating with Al Jazeera Documentary Network. The first networking breakfast presented the Al Jazeera Documentary channels and opportunities, and the second supported Palestine Film Institute to showcase selected Palestinian filmmakers with projects in development. Further networking in Cutlers’ Hall included a celebration of the East/West Africa delegation, and Marketplace Welcome & Closing Drinks.
We continued with our Switchboard & Consultancies sessions, including more UK and international experts from a range of fields in the industry, including editing, impact producing, international markets, festival strategy and budgeting.
Finally, round table sessions open for sign up by all delegates included: Meet the Festivals; Meet the Funds; Meet the Podcasts and Meet the Sales.
Delegations
Docs Ireland (NI & Ireland)
IGNITE Talent delegation
Scotland
Coordinated by the Scottish Documentary Institute
Wales
Coordinated by Ffilm Cymru
East and West Africa
Supported by the British Council
Palestine
Coordinated by the Palestine Film Institute
Chilean Delegation
Lead by Chiledoc
I ARRIVED WITH A
Festival Delegate 2024
COMMUNITY
Local Advisory Group
As part of our ongoing mission to make our festival welcoming, accessible and enjoyable to all, our cohort of six people from across the South Yorkshire region forms our Local Advisory Group. Attending the festival in 2023 and 2024, they give us vital feedback on our programme and plans to ensure we stay relevant and open to public audiences. We’re grateful to have them: Even Allen, Alaina Briggs, Mubarak Elamin, Najma Heybe, Liz Kettle and Jeremy Twyman.
Community Workshops & Outreach
Our community programme spanned hands on workshops, a dance session, and an immersive sound bath and commission, in 2024:
Collaging Resistance – a session produced in response to film Strike: An Uncivil War, this session explored visual materials produced during the Miners’ Strike to discuss creativity in times of revolt, with participants using these materials as an inspiration point to create their own visual works that connect with calls to action in contemporary movements.
Dance of Defiance – an immersive dance workshop delved into the rich cultural heritage of Palestinian dabke.
Pen and Presence: Writing Circle – a creative writing session for writers, poets, and musicians, that explored vulnerability and self-reflection on mental health in a relaxed and supportive environment.
Transcending Queer Utopias: Terrarium Building –a hands-on workshop, inspired by LETU, an interactive VR experience creating ideal digital worlds for LGBTQIA+ communities in East Africa, participants were invited to transform digital exploration into physical, living creations. Using provided materials to craft personalised terrariums that embody their unique transformative visions.
A hands-on craft session – allowing participants to cast their own silicone fingers, inspired by Laura Dima’s The Finger Rub Rug.
Gong: Sounds of Sheffield – commissioned as part of the 2024 exhibition to share green spaces in the ‘outdoor city’ from the perspectives and experiences of people who have found their home in Sheffield. Guided through this celebration by Muna Mcadie and her meditative gong and crystal bowl acoustics, listeners reflected on the poetic voices and harmonising sounds reverberating around the city. This piece had a live event the afternoon before Opening Night, and repeated four times daily during the exhibition run in Site Gallery, as well as being able to be played at any time via the website. This piece even featured some of our Local Advisory Group!
We worked with many community groups and cultural partners in Sheffield to offer free and discounted tickets to underserved audiences, and continued our DocsForAll concession: a trust-based concession that allows anyone in need of a reduced ticket price to access one, with no proof required.
Left Dance of Defiance workshop
Photo by Jess Oliphant
AS DOCFEST HAS WRAPPED UP, I WANTED TO TAKE A MOMENT TO EXTEND MY HEARTFELT THANKS FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO VOLUNTEER AT THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL. IT WAS MY FIRST TIME VOLUNTEERING AT AN EVENT OF THIS SCALE, AND I AM TRULY GRATEFUL FOR THE EXPERIENCE. FROM MANAGING THE Q&A SESSIONS TO INTERACTING WITH FILMMAKERS AND ATTENDEES, EVERY ASPECT OF MY ROLE WAS ENRICHING AND ENJOYABLE. THE INSIGHTS I GAINED AND THE CONNECTIONS I MADE HAVE BEEN INVALUABLE, AND THEY HAVE CERTAINLY IGNITED EVEN MORE PASSION IN ME FOR THE WORLD OF DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING.”
Festival Volunteer
Festival volunteers
Photo by Kyle Patterson
Above Mountain Queen:
The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa
Photo by Anh Do
This Photo Munya Chawawa
Photo by Calla Cox Right
Idris Elba
Photo by Kyle Patterson
Below Right
Don Letts
Photo by David Chang
44,496
40,809
3,687
FESTIVAL AUDIENCES
First Timers
Likely or very likely to return
Attended 1 – 3 Events
Attended 7+ Events
Where Our Public Audiences Came From
Had a very good or excellent time
Sheffield The Rest of Yorkshire
The Rest of the UK Outside the UK
INDUSTRY DELEGATES
INDUSTRY AUDIENCES CAME
Delegates
INDUSTRY DELEGATES
IT WAS SUCH A GOOD FESTIVAL THIS YEAR. GOOD VIBES ALL ROUND, AMAZING FILMS, AND FELT REALLY INCLUSIVE. ROGER ROSS WILLIAMS IS INSPIRATIONAL – LOVED THAT HE WAS THE GUEST OF HONOUR.”
Natasha Dack, Producer
SHEFFIELD DOCFEST IS THE MOST COMMUNITY-BUILDING EXPERIENCE I’VE BEEN A PART OF WHILST WORKING IN FILM. CONSIDERING THE TOUGH TIMES WE ALL FACE, IT’S AMAZING TO COME TOGETHER, MEET SO MANY FRIENDLY FACES AND SHARE OUR WORK AND PASSIONS. IT’S A UNIFYING AND MOTIVATING EXPERIENCE ALL-ROUND.”
Festival Delegate
139 PRESS & MEDIA COVERAGE
25 films, guests or spokespeople were covered by feature/interview by 28 outlets , profiling films and the festival across a variety of outlets. Reviews during the festival ran across key trades and newspaper outlets including Business Doc Europe, Cineuropa, EMPIRE, The Guardian and The Guardian Online, The Daily Telegraph Saturday Review, Daily Mirror, The Star, BBC News Online, and other online outlets including CloseUp Film, Eye For Film, Eastern Kicks, Film Carnage, HighOn Films, Reel Steel, and SeeNL.
Coverage about and ahead of DocFest appeared in outlets representing traditional media across print, broadcast and online, as well as more specialist outlets. Programme previews and features ran in national news including The Guardian, BBC News Online; internationally on LatAm Cinema Deadline, Doc&Roll, and Screen International; and broadcast including BBC Radio Sheffield and ITV Calendar.
Local outlets covering the festival included broadcast outlets ITV Yorkshire and BBC Radio Sheffield, and print/online outlets Sheffield Star, Sheffield Tribune, Rotherham Advertiser, Exposed Magazine, Now Then, and Reel Steel.
18
268
2.5
News reports ran in industry trades: Broadcast, Cineuropa, Deadline, Prolific North, Real Screen, Screen Daily, Televisual, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety, plus interviews and reviews in Business Doc Europe, The Guardian, and more.
International coverage appeared in: Cineuropa and Business Doc Europe, plus other international countries such as: Asian Movie Pulse (USA), Cinepatra (Greece), Los Experimentos (Spain), LatAm Cinema (Spain), Ukrainian outlets Life and LB.ua, and syndicated coverage in The Guardian USA (online) and The Guardian Australia (print and online.) Local coverage appeared in BBC Radio Sheffield, BBC Yorkshire Online, Now Then and Exposed Magazine.
Journalist guests included: Mat Carey (Deadline, US), Alice Redman (Broadcast, UK), Marian McHugh (Broadcast, UK) and Nick Bradshaw, (Sight and Sound, UK).
IF THERE’S ANYTHING THE DOCUMENTARY COMMUNITY IS USED TO DEALING WITH IT’S TURBULENCE, WHETHER AT THE MACRO LEVEL OF MAJOR CHANGE IN THE BUSINESS ITSELF, OR AT THE MICRO LEVEL OF GETTING A FILM PRODUCTION OFF THE GROUND. THE MESSAGE TO DOCFEST ATTENDEES THIS WEEK HAS BEEN TO INSIST ON SOLIDARITY – TO SUPPORT EACH OTHER — IN THE FACE OF GEOPOLITICAL AND ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY.”
Mat Carey, Deadline Hollywood
Podcast Live: The Last Witness with Michael Sheen
Photo by Pishdaad Modaressi
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
We measure our carbon footprint for the festival on an annual basis, with the help of Julie’s Bicycle Creative Climate Tools
Our Head of Operations and Production is responsible for environmental reporting and sits on a city-wide sustainability working group for Sheffield’s cultural sector. At present, we enact domestic policies which include reusing, recycling and upcycling festival materials, reducing extraneous merchandise and print production, buying local and vegetarian with regard to festival catering and consumables, and encouraging delegates to make the most of our walkable city footprint.
Full carbon footprint for all activity 1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024
We know that international travel generates our highest emissions – without it, our general operations would be well below national average emissions for a UK SME. We mitigate some of this impact through our internal travel policy which requires use of public transport for domestic UK travel, and international train travel between the UK and Northern Europe; we also attend many international documentary markets and pitches online rather than in person.
Carbon footprint for general business operations only 1 April 2023 – 31 March 2024
FESTIVAL TEAM
Jamie Allan
Short Film and Community Programmes Curator
Camila Arriaga Torres
Film Programme Coordinator
Ami Bhansali
Communications Coordinator
Maddie Brenner-Roach
Volunteer Coordinator
Colm Cahill
Production Manager
David Chang
Festival Photographer
Katie Clark
Operations Coordinator
Lola Coker
Marketplace Coordinator
Emily Copley
Alternate Realities Summit Producer
Anh Do
Festival Photographer
Alice Duggan
Production Assistant
Sophie Duncan
Marketplace and Talent Programmes Producer
Curtis Dunn
Box Office Manager
Cait Earnshaw
Film Programme Assistant
Rupert Goodwin
Senior Account Director, Premier PR
Annabel Grundy
Managing Director
Ella Hackett
Hospitality Assistant
Rachel Hakes
Hospitality Coordinator
Ian Haydn Smith
Publications Editor
Lieven Heeremans
Podcast Programme Producer
Joanna Hunter
Festival Communications Lead
Massimo Iannetti
Marketplace and Talent Assistant
Rob Jones
Events Manager
Asma Kabadeh
Community Programme Producer
Beth Keller
Volunteer Assistant
Imane Lamime
Partnerships Coordinator
Sarah Lee-Liggett
Box Office Assistant
Vanessa Lobón Garcia
Talks and Sessions Senior Producer
Corrigan Lowe
Partnerships Manager
James Lowe
Graphic Designer
Layton Lowther
Registration Coordinator
Joyce Lui
Finance Assistant
Charlotte Mackenzie Head of Finance
Patrizia Mancini
Head of Industry
Emily Marlow
Box Office Coordinator
Jack Masterson
Videographer
Nora Murray-Smith Publicist, Premier PR
Sophie Newing
HR and Access Coordinator
Raul Niño Zambrano
Creative Director
Rita Pais
Administrative and Executive Assistant
Meg Pruce Communications Assistant
Melanie Rawson
Communications Producer
Monique Reid
Senior Account Manager, Premier PR
Lisa Marie Russo
Marketplace Consultant
Jack Rutherford
Alternate Realities Programme Producer
Sabrina Scollan
Talks and Sessions Programme Coordinator
Mat Steel
Head of Production and Operations
Maria Stoneman
Head of HR and Participation
Mita Suri
Film Programme Manager
Chim’Di Ugada Filmmaker Challenge Production Coordinator
Sonia Wargacka Events Coordinator
Tom Woodcock
Social Events Coordinator
Chloë Wragg
Industry Programme Assistant
We would also like to thank our XR Hosts, AR Technicians, Venue Coordinators and all volunteers.
CONTRIBUTORS
Film Programme Consultants
John Badalu
Young-woo Kim
Alfredo Mora Manzano
Chloë Roddick
Carmen Thompson
Film Programme Advisors
Fahd Ahmed
Aderinsola Ajao
Tara Brown
Clodagh Chapman
Martijn de Pas
Mariana Hristova
Harry Kalfayan
Zeynep Kaserci
Toni Lee
Edwin Mingard
Zinha Morgan-Bennett
Lesedi Oluko Moche
Deepthi Pendurty
Rachel Pronger
Che Scott-Heron Newton
Mathy Selvakumaran
Alternate Realities Co-Curators
Keisha Knight
Abby Sun
Virtual Reality Programme Advisors
Danny Bacchus
Ben Carlin
MeetMarket Selectors
Rodolfo Castillo-Morales
Emily Copley
Inadelso Cossa
Hicham Falah
Kiyoko McCrae
Dumitrita Pacicovschi
Alex Moussa Sawadogo
Katayoon Shahabi
Elhum Shakerifar
Lara Sousa
Peter Yam
Festival Assistants
Riley Barnett
Sam Hill
Lauren Mazonas
Jamie Mowl
Heath Waters
Trustees
Stephen Bowen
Diana Buckley
Sheffield City Council Observer
Alex Cooke Chair
Gali Gold
Daniel Gordon
Fozia Khan
Jennifer Kimber Derren Lawford
Lucy McDowell
Sacha Mirzoeff
Zoe Mumba
Beejal-Maya Patel
Helen Scott
Brian Woods Deputy Chair
We would like to thank Jo ClintonDavis who served on the board of trustees until January 2024.
FUNDERS, PARTNERS & SPONSORS
