email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

SHEFFIELD DOC FEST 2020

Sheffield Doc/Fest announces its official selection for 2020

by 

- The gathering has revealed its line-up of films set to launch digitally in June and in cinemas in the autumn; the 115 movies of all lengths come from 50 countries and represent 49 spoken languages

Sheffield Doc/Fest announces its official selection for 2020
The Filmmaker’s House by Marc Isaacs

Sheffield Doc/Fest has announced the line-up of films that will launch on its digital platform on 10 June and those that will play in cinemas (if open) in Sheffield in the autumn. The official selection for 2020 includes 31 world, 15 international, five European and 40 UK premieres. There are 115 films of all lengths, hailing from 50 countries around the world and representing 49 spoken languages. A total of 22 UK productions are included in the line-up.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Festival director Cíntia Gil said: “The crisis we are living through now points – and not for the first time – to the systemic failure of institutions and nations, and their need to be equitable in their capacities to give respect to life, freedom and care. It has given us an acute sense of what needs to change and a desire for stronger bonds between us. This programme is our contribution to that: it comes from a collective effort to resist hegemonic views over cinema and its relation to the world and to our lives. It represents multiple conversations that we want to continue in the near future, through different programmes and forms.”

Some of the filmmakers and artists in the programme include Abbas Fahdel, Alison Ellwood, Andrea Testa, Anthony Baxter, Carmen Losmann, Carol Salter, Dacia Ibiapina, David Teboul, Edgardo Cozarinsky, Florence Lazar, Hanna Jayanti, Ilona Bruvere, Jérôme Bel, Jia Zhang-ke, Jonathan Perel, Kim A Snyder, Lech Kowalski, Lynne Ramsay, Lynne Sachs, Marc Isaacs, Mike Hoolboom, Nick Jordan, Oreet Ashery, Phil Collins, Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, Rob Curry, Simplice Ganou, Sofia Bohdanowicz, Viera Čákanyová, Vincent Carelli and Yael Bartana, who will all feature with their latest works.

Meanwhile, there will be plenty of new talent, as 22 first-time feature filmmakers will make up 20% of the programme.

The European productions having their world premieres at the event include Please Hold the Line [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Pavel Cuzuioc (Austria), playing in the Into the World section; We’re Still Here by Melissa Herman (UK); The Art of Living in Danger by Mina Keshavarz (Germany/Iran); Camagroga [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Alfonso Amador (Spain); Our Land, Our Altar [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
by André Guiomar (Portugal); and The Filmmaker’s House [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Marc Isaacs (UK), which will debut in the Rebellions line-up. Debuting in the Rhyme and Rhythm section are Keith Haring: Street Art Boy by Ben Anthony (UK), Southern Journey (Revisited) by Rob Curry and Tim Plester (USA/UK), Faith and Branko by Catherine Harte (UK/Serbia), King Rocker [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Michael Cumming (UK) and Sisters with Transistors [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
by Lisa Rovner (France).

With the closure of cinemas owing to COVID-19, the film programme is being split into three parts, which are as follows:

  1. Sheffield Doc/Fest Selects, a VoD platform with pay-per-view and subscription options for UK-based public audiences, launching on 10 June. It includes the Exchange film programme and Q&As with filmmakers, free of charge;
  2. Doc/Player, a film industry-orientated video library available to festival passholders worldwide from 8 June-31 August;
  3. Festival weekenders in Sheffield cinemas in October and November (dates to be announced, and subject to safe conditions).

In addition, Sheffield Doc/Fest has partnered with BFI Player, Doc Alliance Films, The Guardian and MUBI, which will host its curated programmes at various points between July and November. The festival will also host the following sections online and in Sheffield later in the year: the Alternate Realities programme, the Exchange programme, Q&As, and Marketplace and Talent.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy