Sheffield DocFest 2021: The online line-up and how it works
David Farnor | On 19, May 2021
Sheffield DocFest is returning this June for its 2021 edition, and it will be playing both online and in cinemas.
Running from 4th to 13th June, the festival will include 55 world premieres, 22 international premieres, 15 European premieres and 59 UK premieres from across 57 countries. Among its highlights are the first instalment of Steve McQueen’s new series for the BBC, Uprising, about the 1981 New Cross fire, the European Premiere of Summer of Soul about the seminal 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival (its opening film) and the world premiere of The Story of Looking by Mark Cousins (the festival’s closing film), based on his book of the same name, plus the UK premiere of the thought-provoking Shamima Begum documentary The Return: Life After ISIS.
The line-up
See our top picks from the festival here
This year’s retrospective (Films belong to those who need them – fragments from the history of Black British Cinema) will be a celebration of Black British screen culture, curated by guest curators including David Olusoga. Films of all lengths will all be presented, including titles such as Burning An Illusion by Menelik Shabazz, It Ain’t Half Racist, Mum by Stuart Hall, Looking for Langston by Isaac Julien, Second Coming by Debbie Tucker Green, The Black Safari by Colin Luke, Baby Mother by Julien Henriques and Franco Rosso’s The Mangrove Nine, among others.
As we approach the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US, Sheffield DocFest will also present a series of films that bring different perspectives to the historic tragedy.
This year the festival is holding its first ever UK Competition: a selection of 14 independent films. Filmmakers include; Allan Melia, Ben Reed, Charlotte Ginsborg, Christine Saab, Daisy Ifama, Daniel Draper, Eriberto Gualinga, Frank Martin, Isla Badenoch, Makeda Matheson, Maythem Ridha, Nicola Mai, Pamela Breda, Rhea Storr, Rob Curry and Tim Plester.
Also new for this year is Northern Focus, showcasing shorts and features from across the North of England Nine titles make up the section, directed by: Alfie Barker, Catriona Gallagher, Claire Davies, Jim Wraith, Kim Flitcroft, Mark Waters, Sel MacLean, Sema Basharan and Sophie Robinson’s new film in collaboration with Dunstan Bruce, leader of Chumbawamba, I Get Knocked Down (only showing in cinemas).
The 78 features and 88 shorts in the film programme also include premieres from Brian Hill, Kazuo Hara, Kim O’Bomsawin, Lynne Sachs, Mania Akbari, Paula Gaitán, Rosine Mbakam, Theo Anthony, Vivian Ostrovsky, Yael Bartana and Yaël Abecassis. The UK Premiere of Final Account by the late Luke Holland will also feature.
The International Copmetition alone includes 11 features, such as Charm Circle by Nira Burstein (USA, World Premiere), Rancho by Pedro Speroni (Argentina, World Premiere), Factory to the Workers by Srđan Kovačević (Croatia, World Premiere) and Summer by Vadim Kostrov (Russia, World Premiere). Also competing are Equatorial Constellations by Silas Tiny (São Tomé and Príncipe/Portugal, World Premiere), From the 84 Days by Philipp Hartmann (Germany/Bolivia, World Premiere) and This Stained Dawn by Anam Abbas (Pakistan, World Premiere), Nũhũ Yãg Mũ Yõg Hãm: This Land Is Our Land! by Isael Maxakali, Sueli Maxakali, Carolina Canguçu and Roberto Romero (Brazil, International Premiere), White on White by Viera Čákanyová (Czech Republic/Slovakia, International Premiere), Double Layered Town / Making a Song to Replace Our Positions by Komori Haruka and Seo Natsumi (Japan, International Premiere) and My Dear Spies by Vladimir Léon (France, UK Premiere).
Additional films presented as special screenings this year are Clive Patterson’s Sing, Freetown, with television reporter Sorious Samura and Sierra Leone theatre director Charlie Haffner and – particularly intriguing – Where Did The World Go, a collaboration reflecting on the pandemic between Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and Brian Hill.
Cinema screenings
In Sheffield films will be screened at Showroom Cinema and Abbeydale Picture House, with the Arts Programme at Site Gallery, S1 Artspace and Sheffield Hallam University Performance Lab.
The festival will be expanding nationwide with five screenings in up to 16 partner cinemas in cities across the UK, followed by pre-recorded Q&As. These include the opening and closing films, plus the European premiere of My Name is Pauli Murray, about the pioneering Black attorney, activist, priest and poet, the UK premiere of The First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation by Avi Mograbi, and the UK premiere of Lift Like a Girl by Mayye Zayed which follows 14-year-old Zebiba as she trains to become a weightlifting champion.
Online streaming
Titles will be streamed online on DocFest’s own platform, DocFest Selects. Films will be released online at the same time as their in-person screening, and most will then be available to watch for a 72-hour window, with the exception of a few, including Summer of Soul (available for 24 hours), Uprising (available for 24 Hours) and The Time to Live and the Time to Die (available for 48 hours). Each digital screening will have a capacity, which means that it is possible for films to sell out.
Films cost £5 each, or an Online DocLover pass is available for £50, covering all the available online films. All films in the DocFest Exchange programme can be accessed free of charge.
The online schedule
Here’s the rundown of films playing online during the festival – for times see here.
Friday 4 June
Summer of Soul
Summer of Soul by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson will inspire the 10 days of our programme through its testimony of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival Available for 24 hours
Delphine’s Prayers / Les prières de Delphine
Delphine’s Prayers is the story of Delphine – a young Cameroonian woman – and her life in Belgium, in which Delphine talks to the camera with openness
Gunda
In GUNDA, Kossakovsky movingly recalibrates our moral universe, reminding us of the inherent value of life and the mystery of all animal consciousness
HOME (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
What can a home be? From a dense and complex space of existence to a kind place of acceptance and open conversation, these films share unique notions
Saturday 5 June
TERRITORIES (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Through time the territories of the USA have gone through dramatic troubles
Charm Circle
Oscillating between present day and decades-old home videos, Charm Circle is a cinéma vérité portrait of an eccentric New York family navigating chaos
Charm Circle
SE24 – HD4 – SW3 (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Curated by Mark Sealy, the underlying principle of what constitutes home links together these films
UK COMPETITION SHORTS (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
This selection of shorts comes from a range of filmmakers, each contributing in rich ways to the future UK and international film landscape
SONIA & CHANTAL (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
The worlds of music and cinema weave when Vivian Ostrovsky muses on the role of sound and Akerman, the famous cellist talks about her life and art
HOW CAN WE EVER LIVE TOGETHER (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
As kids in a school, as immigrants, as inhabitants in a ghost town – how can we be a community?
BBC Interview: David Olusoga
The British-Nigerian historian and broadcaster joins us for this year’s BBC Interview.
BETWEEN REMINISCENCE AND REACTIVATION (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Between Reminiscence and Reactivation is a conversation framed around artists whose work with archival materials.
STORIES OF STRUGGLE, STORIES OF DIASPORA (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Migration, diaspora, and colonial power: the construction of identity under these circumstances is necessarily intertwined
Uprising
The first part of a vivid and visceral three-part series which examines events from 1981 in the UK that defined race relations for a generation Available for 24 hours
TWO FILMS FROM ARGENTINA (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Personal archives and video footage provide a reflection on metaphysical thoughts and personal history
Nuhu Yãg Mu Yõg Hãm: This Land Is Our Land! / Nuhu Yãg Mu Yõg Hãm: Essa Terra É Nossa!
This Land is our Land! is a unique, multilayered film created by Indigenous filmmakers Isael and Sueli Maxakali and their collaborators
Emily Chao & Al Wong in Conversation
A meeting between the artists in our exhibition ‘Dialogues: Emily Chao & Al Wong’
Lift Like a Girl + Stormskater
Two films look at women in sport and the importance of community in Lift Like a Girl, from Egypt, which follows 14-year old weightlifting champion Zebiba and in Stormskater, from the UK, which profiles roller skater Ishariah Johnson
The Silence of the Mole / El Silencio del Topo
In the 1970s, a journalist known as ‘The Mole’ infiltrated Guatemala’s most repressive government in order to help the resistance
Lydia Lunch – The War Is Never Over
A fascinating look at the uncompromising work and life of no wave icon Lydia Lunch
Sunday 6 June
The Return: Life After ISIS
Shamima Begum and Hoda Muthana made it into headlines worldwide when they travelled from their countries as teenagers to Syria and joined ISIS
White on White / Bílá na Bílé
White on White is the video diary that filmmaker Viera Čákanyová kept while staying at the Polish Antarctic station in 2017
SOME MAGIC TO FIGHT OPPRESSION (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Language can be a tool for normalization, but also a means of liberation
Notes From the Field: working strategies for non-fiction artists
How can artists working in non-fiction and across different forms approach funding, production and exhibition?
Men Who Sing
After the filmmaker’s father sells the family home and pre-plans his funeral, choir practice seems like his only remaining solace
Riverock / É Rocha e Rio, Negro Leo
An afternoon conversation with the musician, poet, sociologist, and thinker Negro Leo
The People’s Account + Mangrove Nine
Curated by George Amponsah, Mangrove Nine by Franco Rosso is presented alongside The People’s Account by Menelik Shabazz
My Dear Spies / Mes chers espions
Two brothers, Vladimir and Pierre, wonder whether their Russian grandparents were working for the Soviet secret services in Paris before WW2
FAMILY LIFE (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Three films about the lives of three families from different worlds
So Real It Hurts: In Conversation with Lydia Lunch
Lydia will speak about being the star of Beth B’s new film, The War Is Never Over
The Return: Life After ISIS – reframing the narrative
A panel of filmmakers and activists discuss how film can reframe conversations and foster dialogue and understanding.
My Name is Pauli Murray
Told mainly using Murray’s own words, this film follows the pioneering Black attorney, activist, priest, poet, and memoirist
Just a Movement / Juste un mouvement
Just a Movement takes Jean-Luc Godard’s 1967 film La Chinoise as its starting point, reallocates its roles and characters, from Paris to Dakar
BLACK-EYES SUSANS (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Different ideas of personal politics and psychological states related to family, domestic space, survival, and aspirations for future generations
Don McCullin: Almost Liverpool 8 + RIP SENI
In London, graffiti calls attention to a young Black man who died at the hands of police officers. In Liverpool, we explore the community of Toxteth
Alone Together + Shelly Belly inna Real Life
Communities are built through culture: Pop star Charli XCX enlists her fanbase to help record a new album; choreographers in the dancehalls of Jamaica
DISRUPTING THE IMAGE (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
External social realities and the dynamics of black representation are critiqued and contested in this selection of films
LET’S START AGAIN (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
An impending American civil war and the assaults on the US Capitol make us finally ask the question: What if Women Ruled The World?
Monday 7 June
REEL WOMEN / REAL LIVES (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
A special DocFest preview of a major BFI project, coming in Spring 2022, celebrating pioneering British women documentary filmmakers
Dear Elnaz / Elnaz Jan
Javad Soleimani – whose wife, Elnaz Nabiyi, was killed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – is given space to reflect and share his anger
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
Starting from Jeffery Robinson’s talk on the history of anti-Black racism in America, Who We Are explores the enduring legacy of white supremacy
Portrait of Kaye + The Battle of Denham Ford
An agoraphobic 74-year-old discovers the opportunity to explore personal and sexual freedoms while protests of HS2 fight to protect the trees
From the 84 Days / Aus den 84 Tagen
A film about music as a form of communication in a state of exception, in which the camera becomes part of the improvisation
The Inheritance / The Inheritance
In Ephraim Asili’s feature debut, a man inherits his grandmother’s house, turning it into a Black socialist collective
IMAGE AND MEMORY (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Cinema brings us our ancestors, reflects our human time, links past and present and even, sometimes, haunts us forever
Firestarter – The Story of Bangarra
The story of three Aboriginal brothers, who formed a young dance company and, with its founders and alumni, turned it into a First Nations powerhouse
Tuesday 8 June
FIGHTING FOR DEMOCRACY (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
An early voting line in Franklin County, Ohio, USA and an insider’s perspective on Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment in Brazil
Equatorial Constellations
Equatorial Constellations reflects on the role that São Tomé, a former Portuguese colony, played in saving hundreds of thousands of starving children
Songs for the River + Alive
Two portraits – one documenting opera singer Marilyn Minns, the other of a community, filming the residents of a London housing co-operative
In The Shadow Of 9/11
In a post 9/11 real-life thriller fabricated by the FBI, the story is told of a watershed terrorism case of seven innocent young men
Fixed barricade at Hamdalaye crossing
In Guinea, faced with a slow judicial response to a massacre of protestors in 2009, frustrated young plaintiffs rehearse for a hypothetical trial
Rancho
Pedro Speroni’s prison portrait is built from the shared moments of different incarcerated men
Liberty Square + On Memory
Liberty Square + On Memory are two films that confront tradition and history through place.
Gallant Indies / Indes galantes
In a transgressive production of Les Indes galantes, various forms of urban dance such as hip-hop, krump, break, and voguing meet classical music
Wednesday 9 June
Carlos Ghosn The Last Flight
Carlos Ghosn – the former CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, charged with financial crimes – stunned the world with his escape from Japan to Lebanon
Factory to the Workers / Tvornice Radnicima
Workers in a collectively-run factory in Croatia struggle to weather the organisational disputes and outside economic forces
CAUGHT + Madness Remixed
Innovation in form: CAUGHT seeks justice for trans Latina women in the sex industry, Madness Remixed explores images that stereotype Black women
The Monopoly of Violence
The Monopoly of Violence gathers a panel of citizens in France to exchange views on the legitimacy of state violence
The Witches of the Orient / Les Sorcières de l’Orient
Mixing anime, archive, and live-action footage, former players of the Japanese women’s volleyball team reunite to share their memories
Double Layered Town / Making a Song to Replace Our Positions
Following the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Komori Haruka and Seo Natsumi chose to live in Rikuzentakata, a town affected by the disaster
Thursday 10 June
The Quintessence
The Quintessence considers the scientific study of outer space as a narrative, and analyses the hidden dreams and expectations of the researchers
This Stained Dawn
Karachi’s feminists organise a woman’s march, facing Pakistan’s radical religious right
Soy Cubana + BLONDIE: VIVIR EN LA HABANA (SHORT)
The connective power of music transcends borders when Soy Cubana play their first US show and Blondie travel to Havana
Summer / ЛЕТО
Providing warmth, joy and solace, offering hope and strength for the future, Summer journeys with Vadim and his half-sister Christina
A Pandemic Poem: Where Did the World Go
Filmmaker Brian Hill and poet laureate Simon Armitage employ music, dance, and poetry to look at the use of art in dealing with catastrophe
BRAZIL: STORIES OF MUSIC AND PAIN (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Brazil’s past and present seem to run in an eternal cycle. Caetano Veloso is the link between these films
HARD TO BE HUMAN (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Strength and imagination put into building strategies for possible new worlds
Friday 11 June
Call Me Human / Je m’appelle humain
A tender portrait of Innu poet, writer, filmmaker, and storyteller Joséphine Bacon, and her efforts to salvage and preserve her elders’ traditions
Sing, Freetown
Two friends embark on a journey to create a play that will reclaim their home country, Sierra Leone, from negative media narratives
Maisie
An intimate portrait of ageing and friendship as ‘Maisie Trollette’, Britain’s oldest drag artiste, prepares for the performance of a lifetime
SONIC REGISTER TRACK 1 (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Curated by Judah Attille, a curated discussion of films animated by a three-way conversation between British womxn working in the arts
The Art of Staging Reality: Marc Isaacs in conversation with Jon Bang Carlsen
Jon Bang Carlsen, one of Denmark’s most celebrated filmmakers, joins Marc Isaacs to discuss the necessity of inventing reality
LIFE IS OUR REVOLUTIONARY PRIORITY (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
MOVE is a Philadelphia-based collective founded in 1972 by John Africa, for the protection of life as a revolutionary principle
Gorbachev. Heaven / Горбачев. Рай
Vitaly Mansky encounters Mikhail Gorbachev, and through a series of contentious conversations, Gorbachev reflects on the major battles of his life
MEMORY REVISITED: FOCUS TAIWAN 1 (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Four short films that are mostly made with archive footage – playing with past images, questioning memory and reframing the idea of a country
Roses. Film-Cabaret / Рози. Фільм-кабаре
Tragicomic musical theatre and punk cabaret combine through the performances of Ukraine’s Dakh Daughters
The First 54 Years – An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation
Using testimonies from soldiers in the Israeli army, Avi Mograbi provides insights on how a colonialist occupation functions
MEMORY REVISITED: FOCUS TAIWAN 2 (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Two films using poetic and experimental ways to discover family history and memory
DESTROY | DISTURB | DISRUPT – DECOLONISING QUEER DESIRE (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Curated by Campbell X, Black queer filmmakers craft an intervention into desire for the Black queer body on film
BODIES UNDER CONTROL (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Haig Aivazian and Theo Anthony bring two unique reflections on image, surveillance and control
Saturday 12 June
Reframing Our Desires
Campbell X – writer, director and guest curator – talks to filmmakers from his programme, Destroy | Disturb | Disrupt – Decolonizing Queer Desire.
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
Starting from Jeffery Robinson’s talk on the history of anti-Black racism in America, Who We Are explores the enduring legacy of white supremacy
Borderland / Grenzland
Andreas Voigt, one of the pivotal East German documentarians, returns to the borderlands of Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic
Story of Looking: In Conversation with Mark Cousins
Join us in conversation with Mark as we delve into how looking can paint a portrait of our culture.
King Rocker
An anti-rockumentary portrait of outspoken post-punk performer Robert Lloyd (The Nightingales)
REMEMBER / RE-EVALUATE / REVIEW (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
Curated by We Are Parable, this programme examines the portrayal of Black people in the media since the early 1970s
Emily Chao & Al Wong: Films in Dialogue
Alongside their on-site exhibition, this screening continues the dialogue between the work of artists Emily Chao and Al Wong
How to perform (in) a crisis: Geraldine Snell & Mohamed Abdelkarim
Moderated by Soukaina Aboulaoula, this event invites performance artists Geraldine Snell and Mohamed Abdelkarim to discuss their practices.
Tales from a Hard City
Sheffield is reeling from the collapse of heavy industry – Tales from a Hard City follows four individuals as they battle for survival in this city
The Savior For Sale: The Story of the Salvator Mundi
Journeying along hidden trails of money, power, and deception, journalist Antoine Vitkine delves into the unknown secrets of the art world
BAFTA Masterclass: Betsy West & Julie Cohen
The BAFTA nominated directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen join us for this year’s BAFTA masterclass.
Horvath + Tictoc
What do a Roma family of Muay Thai champions and a 16-year old boy with Tourette syndrome have in common? They fight
Raymonde el Bidaoia
Armed with her camera, actor-turned-director Yaël Abecassis trails her mother, the legendary Moroccan singer Raymonde
The Story of Looking + Award Ceremony
In a personal meditation on the power of looking in his own life, Mark Cousins reveals how looking makes us who we are
Chelas nha Kau
Composed of everyday fragments, the story of Lisbon based hip-hop group Bataclan 1950, told collectively through a multimedia workshop
Courage
Members of an underground theatre group in Minsk, Belarus together with thousands of fellow citizens, peacefully protest the contested 2020 elections
Sunday 13 June
Minamata Mandala
Japanese documentarian Kazuo Hara tracks the legal struggles of long-term sufferers of Minamata disease across 15 years to create an epic three-part film
My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan
Following the life of one Afghan youth from 2001 to 2021, its protagonist as a prism to examine Afghanistan’s struggles over the past 20 years
The Time to Live and the Time to Die / 童年往事
Adapted from the filmmaker’s memories, this personal film displays the complexity of identity and the shifting moods of displaced people
Available for 48 hours
9/11: One Day in America
Using archival footage and new interviews with eyewitnesses, this film offers an emotionally charged account of that fateful day
NORTHERN FOCUS SHORTS (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
A series of short films celebrating the beauty of the every day: glimpses of life and small wonders are given the attention they deserve
No Straight Lines: The Rise of Queer Comics + Drawings of my BF
Cartoons come to life on screen in a celebration of queer comics and graphic novels and the artists and activists who penned them
Available Throughout The Festival
The Ants and the Grasshopper
Traveling from Malawi to California, farmer Anita Chitaya faces her greatest challenge: persuading Americans that climate change is real
Everything
See the world from the viewpoint of a twig, an atom, a bear, a bacterium, a mountain or a galaxy, in a cinematic animation about everything
From the Wild Sea / Fra det vilde hav
Along the coasts of Europe, volunteers work to rescue coastal wildlife. As the climate crisis worsens, their task becomes increasingly difficult
The Great Silence
At the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, astronomers listen for signs of extraterrestrial life
KARRABING FILM COLLECTIVE (SHORTS / COLLECTION)
The Karrabing Film Collective use filmmaking as a form of Indigenous grassroots resistance and self-organisation
Surviving 9/11
Two intertwining narratives of 9/11, covering the two hour period in which terrorists conducted their attacks, and the 20 years that have passed since
Symbiotic Earth
Symbiotic Earth explores the life and ideas of Lynn Margulis, a radical scientist, whose unconventional theories challenged the status quo
Who is Afraid of Ideology? Part III – Micro Resistances
Micro Resistances focuses on the ongoing systemic war waged by transnational corporations against the seed