Editor

During the Industrial Revolution this south Yorkshire city’s claim to fame was it’s steel and crucible production, today it’s celebrated Doc/Fest has put Sheffield back on the map and made it an epicenter of documentary film and factual.

Beginning in 1994 with only a handful of delegates and hundreds of participants, Sheffield Doc/Fest has grown to be UK’s largest documentary festival and the 3^rd largest documentary festival in the world. This 23^rd edition from June 10-15^th, packed in almost 33,000 filmmakers, activists, curators, journalists, Commissioning Editors, creative Directors, heads of foundations, religious leaders, lawyers, educators, and of course the local populace. There were over 3,500 industry delegates from 60 countries. Out of the 160 international and UK documentaries that were screened, 29 were world premieres, 52 were UK premiers, 14 were international premiers, and 19 were European premiers.

Spirits did not dampen even for those shivering under umbrellas at the outdoor cinema watching films on LCD screens in the punishing rain, or for others waiting in long queues hoping to buy tickets that were already sold out. People remained upbeat, enthusiastic, friendly and engaged, it was inspiring, uplifting, and because Sheffield is known for its music and parties late into the night… fun.

Advance preparation is required to navigate your way successfully through these 6 intense days where 340 events- films/sessions/panels and talks compete for your attention and attendance. Each panel was important and thought provoking, but sometimes scheduled simultaneously caused frustration and disappointment. There was a Marketplace for business activities, funding, sales, and distribution and this year’s flagship Meet Market offered a private pitching opportunity for filmmakers to meet with international funders, broadcasters, distributors, sales agents and exhibitors and discuss creative and financial matters.

In addition, the pilot program called the On-Screen Factual Talent Market connected individuals with expert knowledge in different disciplines with producers and commissioners looking for new talent. From 70 applications, 18 chosen candidates had 5 minutes to pitch their project to a decision maker in a “speed-date” like format. The shortlisted participants received pitch training leading up to the event, and met one-on-one with TV professionals during the festival. Instead of feeling satisfied after 4 days of leap frogging between venues, I discovered I had missed so many of the  80+ talks.

Some fest highlights included the Channel 4 Interview with Michael Moore who opened the festival with “Where to Invade Next”, a talk with 90 year old Sir David Attenborough, broadcaster-naturalist, the voice of British Natural History Programs for over 65 years, a panel entitled “Our BBC, Our Channel 4: A Future for Public Service TV?” with Lord David Puttnam, distinguished Film Producer and educator, with Ralph Lee-Head of Factual and Deputy Chief Creative Officer, Channel 4, Patrick Holland- Head of Documentaries, BBC, and Hugh Harris- Director - Media, International, Gambling & Creative Economy, DCMS, a discussion with (also 90 year old) documentary legend and one of America’s pioneers of Direct Cinema, D.A. Pennebaker, and Chris Hegedus who presented their film “Unlocking the Cage”, an interview with political filmmaker and Cannes Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach who accompanied “Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach”, a talk with writer-filmmaker Louis Theroux about his Scientology movie, a panel with award winning Director-Cinematographer Kristen Johnson called Female Trailblazers: New Ways of Working in Media, a discussion with Joanna Lumley OBE, actor, producer, doc maker, an “In Conversation” session with Sheila Nevins, President of HBO Documentary films who received the Creative Leadership Award, interviewed by Nick Fraser of BBC Storyville, and  Tilda Swinton and co-director Bartek Dziadosz who closed the festival with their documentary “ The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger”.

Talks included: “There’s Something About Muslims”, “Surviving Danger Zone Docs”,  “Viva la Revolucion: Video Activism and Citizen Journalism”, “Honest Truths: The Ethical Challengers of Filmmaking”, “Documentary and Trauma: A Survival Guide”,“Does it Matter Who Funds my Film?”, “What Happens when Doc Makers Join Non Profits”,“Between Activism and Extremism: Storytelling for Change”, “Roadmap to Film Funding: Unlocking the Mysteries of Grant Proposals”, “Notes on Blindness: A Film and VR Autopsy”, “Docs in the Newsroom”, “Telling Deceptively Big Stories in Tiny Online Spaces”, “War of the Worlds” How DADA-Data Webdoc Virus Defends the World”, “Into the Land of VOD: How I Tried to Contact Netflix”, “Vlogs Vs Docs: Tales of Our Time”, “Is Documentary Relevant in a World with Information Available at Your Fingertips?”,

“Alternate Realities Summit: Androids, Robots”, “Avatars Live, The Hype about 4K”, “Minority Report: Diversity in Documentary”,  “How to Document the World’s Biggest News Stories: Telling the Refugee Crisis”  moderated by award winning Roger Graef, “How to Get Your Theatrical Doc Funded and Distributed”,  “How to Put Kids on TV: A Channel 4 Masterclass” , “How to Pitch your Climate Change Idea”,  “How to Pitch your Academic Idea”       and the list goes on…

Sheffield’s Doc/Fest Alternate Realities summit and exhibitions platform has an ever-growing (virtual) footprint and showcased virtual and augmented reality, interactive media and VR talks and exhibitions that includes 360 degree videos, photos and animation described as a film-maker’s “new innovative ways of immersive story-telling”. Featuring 14 immersive media experiences and 12 Virtual Reality documentaries in galleries around town that were filled to capacity, the events ranged from a virtual experience of solitary confinement in prison, an immersive Spacewalk experience, a journey to Mars, to the 1916 Easter Rising, (the armed insurrection by Irish republicans during Easter).

The winner of the first ever VR Award, “Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness” will be sent to selected nationwide venues alongside previews of the documentary feature film “Notes on Blindness” in partnership with Curzon Artificial Eye and Sheffield Doc/Fest and for the first time this year, a 5,000 pound VR commission was awarded to Darren Emerson’s VR installation project ‘Invisible’ that deals with the dehumanization of migrants held in UK jails.

At Sheffield's Millennium Gallery you could find the New Dimensions in Testimony exhibition and experience a "virtual encounter" with Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter in a 360 degree video. It was the first time in Europe that this ground breaking technology was presented. Executive Director of the Shoah Foundation, Dr. Stephen Smith and his team, compiled the audio and visual data for the project using natural language software.

Audiences can interact with this recorded image and ask Mr. Gutter questions about his life, his childhood, his survival in the concentration camps. Powered by complex algorithms, Pinchas responds in real time, and can carry on a realistic conversation. Having been filmed over 25 hours Pinchas can reply to 1,000 different questions. This revolutionary natural language technology developed by the USC Shoah Foundation and The Institute for Visual History and Education presented an exhibition that won the 2016 Doc/Fest New Alternate Realities Interactive Award.

“I think documentaries are the greatest things in the whole world, It’s the way strangers meet strangers and learn to love each other” says HBO Documentary Films President Sheila Nevins who received the festival’s inaugural Creative Leadership Award. As an executive producer, Nevins won 31 Primetime Emmy Awards, 34 News and Documentary Emmys and 40 Peabody Awards, under her management, HBO docs have won 26 Oscars.  “The main reason the docu brand of HBO today is famous is  because nobody was doing documentaries- maybe the Brits were, but in America, ‘documentary’ meant ‘politics,’ it meant, ‘What’s wrong with the government, is the CIA doing its job?’ They were not storytelling documentaries when I came in. I think the legitimacy of telling a story is… the longer you can hold on to that truth, the better it is” Nevins says.

Arte, the superb European channel devoted to culture and the arts that began as a collaboration between  France and Germany announced that its programs will available online in English and Spanish. ARTE takes part in the promotion of multilingualism and the circulation of cultural works in Europe. ARTE programs, 85% produced in Europe, are now available in four languages. In addition to French and German, 600 hours of documentaries, magazines and live performing arts are to be seen with English and Spanish subtitles by the end of 2016.

And finally, among the remarkable  new films screened, many followed by Q & A’s were :   “StoryboardP, a Stranger in Sweden”, “Bobby Sands: 66 Days”, “City40”, “Cameraperson”, “Jim: The James Foley Story”, “Notes on Blindness”, “Presenting Princess Shaw”, “The Settlers”, “Tempestad”, “Born to be Free”, “Miss Sharon Jones”, “The Age of Consequences”, “Snow Monkey”, “Sonita”, “My Aleppo”, “Unlocking the Cage”, “After Spring”, “#MyEscape”, “Ambulance”, “My Scientology Movie”, “Burma’s Secret Jungle War with Joe Simpson”, “Exodus”: “Breaking into Europe”, “Kiki”, “India in a Day”, “Monster in the Mind The Convenient UN-truth about Alzeimer’s”, “Rwanda & Juliet”, “In Pursuit of Silence”…. to name a few

There were many awards:

The Grand Jury Award went to :Cameraperson by Kirsten Johnson

Special Mention went to : The Settlers 

The Sheffield Environmental Award went to SEED: The Untold Story .

Special Mention went to : Death By Design 

The Youth Jury Award
 went to: Sonita 

The Student Doc Award 
Winner was: My Aleppo

The Short Doc Award went to:  I'm Not From Here 

Alternate Realities Interactive Award went to: New Dimensions in Testimony 

Special Mention went to: Walden, a Game

A new Alternate Realities VR Award
 for the 2016 Sheffield Doc/Fest was: Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness 

Special Mention went to: Home – An Immersive Spacewalk Experience

The Dr. Clifford Shaw Feature Doc Audience Award went to: Presenting Princess Shaw

The Audience Award for Short Doc went to : Tarikat

The Audience Award for Alternate Realities Interactive Project

Winner went to: New Dimensions in Testimony 

The Audience Award for Alternate Realities Interactive Project went to: Home – An Immersive Spacewalk Experience

The Sheffield Doc/Fest Creative Leadership Award went to: Sheila Nevins

The Tim Hetherington Award  went to: Tempestad

Special Mention went to: Hooligan Sparrow

The new Award for Unsung Hero in Factual TV went to : Jan Tomalin

The new Storytelling and Innovation Award went to Notes on Blindness 

The Whicker's World Funding Award went to : Burma's Lost Royals 

The Runner Up: Americaville

Whicker's World Vet Award went to: Fluechtlinge

The Whicker's World Audio Award went to : Little Volcanoes

The Runner Up is: The Dhamazzedi Bell 

A very special festival, special people, special place

Madelyn Most                  June 21, 2016