Sheffield Doc/Fest

Sheffield Doc/Fest 2012 Locks Down Lineup; 'The Sheik and I,' 'Planet of Snail' and 'How to Survive a Plague' Included

Nigel M Smith — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:06:30 GMT

The 19th edition of Sheffield Doc/Fest has locked in its full lineup. This year's progam features 83 feature docs, 10 outdoor screenings, 27 shorts and four cross platform films.

As announced earlier, the Sundance award-winner "Searching for Sugar Man" will open the festival on June 13. A slew of other Sundance titles will also be screening at the event, including the powerful AIDS doc "How to Survive a Plague"; Eugene Jarecki's war on drugs epic "The House I Live In"; and "Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present," which provides a glimpse into the life of the famous performance artist.

Also included is Caveh Zahedi's controversial doc "The Sheik and I," which world premiered at SXSW earlier this year. Eric Kohn called it "a daring work made with reckless abandon -- in other words, both irresponsible and necessary."

This year the festival will be celebrating Russian documentary filmmaker Dziga Vertov with a four film retrospective ("Man With a Movie Camera," "Enthusiasm (Symphony of the Donbass)", "Lullaby" and "Three Songs About Lenin"). And in honor of the upcoming summer Olympics, the festival will screen a number of sports docs, including this year's Oscar winner "Undefeated," and the European premiere of "The Other Dream Team," Marius Markevicius' film on how Lithuania's Olympic basketball team struggled to triumph during the height of the Cold War.

Go HERE for the full lineup. This year's festival runs June 13 - 17.

'Searching for Sugar Man' To Open Sheffield Doc/Fest

Nigel M Smith — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:00:55 GMT

The Sundance award-winner "Searching for Sugar Man," will open this year's Sheffield Doc/Fest on June 13.

Directed by Malik Bendjelloul (who Indiewire profiled in Park City), “Searching for Sugar Man” tells the strange-but-true story of Rodriguez, the greatest ‘70s rock icon you never heard of -- unless you live in South Africa. The Detroit-based artist was plucked from obscurity by two big-name producers; he recorded an album that was supposed to launch a lucrative recording career. That never happened. But thanks to a bootleg recording that found its way into apartheid South Africa, Rodriguez became an icon for the revolution. Funny thing is, he didn’t have a clue.

Fun fact: The film started its production journey in Sheffield, when the project was pitched at Doc/Fest's MeetMarket in 2008.

The full Doc/Fest lineup will be announced on May 10.

Straight Talk from Documentarian Albert Maysles

Nigel M Smith — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 07:26:08 GMT

At 84, veteran documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles ("Grey Gardens," "Gimme Shelter") has lost none of his spark. At the Sheffield Doc/Fest, which wrapped this weekend, Maysles accepted the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award.

"We've got to get on to filming good people doing good things," he said in accepting the honor at City Hall. "Enough of this war stuff. Let us, as I am hoping to do, film people who are ardently working for making peace. Hollywood has always been, and still is, devoted to films where there conflict. Let's see how people are at their best."

Maysles kept war docs out of the picture during a masterclass he gave the following day to a sold-out house at the Lyceum Theater. Below are some key highlights (filmmakers, take note):

Get Up Close and Personal

Let it happen. Be in the right place at the right time and then you'll have a film, especially if the camera person, as Orson Welles described, has a poetic eye. Get close to your subject; a technique you don’t see on TV (they’d rather take a shortcut.) Do it, so that the viewer can experience what that person on the screen is experiencing.

Connect so closely, heart to heart with the person you're filming, so that you feel that person's experience. In that process, there’s a humanizing of that person. To put it another way: To do exactly what you don’t see in TV. [There] the human factor is thrown out of the window.

Bob Drew, one of the makers of "Primary," I saw him recently. He showed me a film he made of his own experience in the second world war. I thought it was very good. I said, 'The History Chanel does so many war films. Why not hand it them?' He said, 'Oh, I showed it to them. I asked, 'What happened?' He said, 'Oh, it was too personal.' But that's exactly what we need in our filmmaking!

Don't Fuss

Just let it happen. Get it as it's happening. No staging, no narration, no host. You have the privilege to see what other people go through.

Establish a Common Ground

We can do much in the process of documentary filmmaking to achieve what a famous anthropologist said is the most important thing - which is to establish a common group for all of us. So that we feel close to people of others colors, nationalities, standards, politics and so forth.

You know them [through my films], more than you ever would have before. Whereas you never would have any idea of them... that clearly, that personal, that direct, without the films. The glory of documentary filmmaking is that it puts you there.

Value Your Team

Editors and camera crew deserve equal credit. A more appropriate title would be filmmakers. I don’t feel comfortable with my label. We’re not really directing anybody when anything happens.

You might want to check out this (full-length!) film directed by Albert Maysles, "Gypsy Caravan, When The Road Bends." (Courtesy our ever-loving corporate parent, Snag Films.)

Watch more free documentaries

Morgan Spurlock's 8 Top Tips For Filmmakers Out of Sheffield

Nigel M Smith — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 07:11:48 GMT

Documentary funnyman (and Academy Award nominee) Morgan Spurlock dolled out advice to a packed house of documentary filmmakers over the weekend at the Sheffield Doc/Fest. Spurlock, who arrived in Sheffield last week to kick off the festival with his latest, "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold," shared his secrets on how to make it in the business.

Below are his top 8 tips gleamed from the panel 'Morgan Spurlock Presents: The Greatest Masterclass Ever Sold':

If You’re In Your Own Movie, Don’t Be Afraid to Cut Yourself

We cut for story and nothing else. My biggest rule when we’re cutting something is always cut me first. I surround myself by lots of 'no men.' I want people who really tell me what they think. We’re always quick to get the reactions from everybody else. Most of what we do is capture reactions.

Right now we’re doing two films that I’m not in a frame of. One was shot at Comic-Con last year -- seeing Comic-Con through other peoples’ eyes. I’m not in it at all. It feels fantastic! As much as I love Comic-Con, I’m not the type of person that goes every year. I’m not a diehard. There are better people to tell that story.

Keep It On the Fly

We don’t shoot things multiple times. Everything’s shot in real time. I was a huge fan of “Battlestar Galactica" and “Friday Night Lights.” Both shows have such an active camera. [On "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold"] we never used a tripod, just to make it seem that we were much more vibrant. We only used a dolly etc. for the commercials we shot within the film.

Love Thy Lawyer

I love lawyers. A good lawyer will keep you out of trouble. A great one will help you cause it. We want to make sure we can dance as close as possible to that edge of that line, but stay on the side of the law.

Do What Needs to be Done

The whole budget [for “Super Size Me”] was $65,000. Everybody worked for free. We had a total of 45 people. While we were making it I would go on Craigslist and I would go move furniture, paint people’s apartments so I could make money. I flew everyone out to the premiere at Sundance, using money from my grandparents, to share the experience.

Keep It Positive!

Have a good team around you. Even when it’s terrible it’s positive. There’s never negativity around any of my projects. So long as we have a great team, my biggest goal is to always hire people smarter than me, which isn’t hard.

I think there are more opportunities for docs than ever before. It’s a real shifting landscape. A great thing happened when I made “Super Size Me.” Suddenly with these great pre-HD cameras that could be blown up into film, people started making movies. All you needed was a camera, computer and a great idea. We were all still fighting to get shown in the same theaters though. With VOD etc., there are now so many more opportunities for fimmakers. You’re not going to make great money if you don’t get theatrical, but it will [soon] start to be profitable.

Envision How You’re Going to Market the Film Before Completing It

Fimmakers will do anything to get a movie made. I think the more you can relay marketing ideas the better. Find somebody who can assist in marketing that shares the same ideology as your movie. In this day and age you have to have a real idea of the business side of things.

Listen!

Listen to people. The one thing I know that I know is that I don’t know everything. I listen to everyone. I like to create an environment where everybody has a voice to chime in.

Trust Your Editor

If you want to empower an editor, don’t hover over them. The more you leave the room, the more they’re involved, the more they’re invested. That’s the reason all of our editors want to come back. They get a real sense of creative freedom, which makes all the projects better.

Steve James' "The Interrupters" Wins Big at Sheffield Doc/Fest

Nigel M Smith — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 09:36:11 GMT

Veteran documentary filmmakers took center stage at the Sheffield Doc/Fest awards ceremony on Sunday.

Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) took home the festival’s top honor, the Special Jury Award, for his acclaimed film “The Interrupters,” which made its European premiere at the event.

“It’s such a great time to make documentaries,” James said in accepting his award. “There’s such incredible work being made right now. Thanks so much, and I guess now… more drinking, right?”

Prolific U.K. filmmaker Nick Broomfield ("Biggie and Tupac") was also honored, taking home the Inspiration Award for his body of work.

“I like to think my career’s just starting,” said Broomfield, “so it’s kind of embarrassing to receive this.”

In other awards, the hot button Donald Trump bashing documentary, “You’ve Been Trumped,” which premiered at Hot Docs in Toronto, picked up the Sheffield Green Award, given to a documentary that best addresses environmental challenges. Sheffield based filmmakers Daniel Lucchesi and Alex Ramseyer-Bache gave the most heartfelt speech of the day, in collecting the Sheffield Youth Jury Award for “We Are Poets,” a rousing film that tracks a group of Leeds teenagers who take part in Brave New Voices, the most prestigious poetry slam competition in America.

“It was only three days ago that we on master tape,” Lucchesi said on the podium. “For it to premiere yesterday and get the reception it’s gotten is really mind blowing.”

Below find the full list of winners:

The Special Jury Award
“The Interrupters,” Director Steve James
The Inspiration Award
Nick Broomfield
Sheffield Youth Jury Award
“We Are Poets,” Directors Daniel Lucchesi and Alex Ramseyer-Bache
The Sheffield Green Award
“You’ve Been Trumped,” Director Anthony Baxter
Honorable Mention: “Up in Smoke,” Director Adam Wakeling
The Sheffield Innovation Award
“Welcome to Pine Point,” Directors Paul Shoebridge and Michael Simons
Honorable Mention: “The Nine Muses,” Director John Akomfrah
Student Doc Award
“Eighty Eight,” Directors Josh Bamford, Seb Feehan and Hannah Bone

The Sheffield Doc/Fest is Rocked by Two World Premieres: "At Night I Fly" & "Just Do It"

Nigel M Smith — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:46:13 GMT

On the second day of Sheffield/Doc Fest, the UK’s biggest international documentary film festival, two world premieres – the prison-set, “At Night I Fly,” and pro-environmental activism rally cry, “Just Do It," got the event off to a promising and provocative start.

"At Night I Fly"

Director Michel Wenzer’s “At Night I Fly” opens on a tantalizing note. Upon entering California’s New Folsom Prison, a level-four maximum-security facility, Wenzer and his crew are told there’s a ‘no exchange policy.’ Which means? “No one can be released in exchange for you if you were to be taken hostage,” the warden says.

It's startling, but that scene is as sensational as this film gets. Other than some brief glimpses of violent inmates' outbursts via acquired security footage, Wenzer’s documentary is notable for its solemn approach – this is miles away from “Oz.” His focus is on the prison’s long-running Arts in Correction program, which allows inmates to gather and express their frustrations through poetry, rap, writing and theater. “The arts are a lifeline to their sanity,” explains one of the teachers.

The program was eliminated on January 31st, 2010 (after the shooting of the film), due to the California budget crisis.

“I hope it can be reestablished,” Wenzer said at the Q&A following the premiere. “I hope this film can be a part of that process.”

Wenzer was inspired to do the project after meeting Spoon Jackson, an inmate who began serving a life sentence without possibility of parole in 1978. In 1986, Jackson took part in a production of “Waiting for Godot” at the San Quentin State Prison under the direction of Jan Jšnsson and garnering Wenzer’s attention and respect. That’s when he came across Jackson’s poetry.

“That this poetry could come across from that prison so far away and reach me in Stockholm was quite amazing,” he said. “The idea that art can be that important… Art as a surviving technique - that was the subtext for making the film.”

“Just Do It”

Emily James' "Just Do It." Sheffield Doc/Fest.

“When I first started asking activists if I could film this kind of material, they wouldn’t even consider it,” director Emily James told a packed house after the world premiere of her ironically titled pro-activist documentary. “There’s a healthy distrust of the media because many of them have been stitched up by somebody taking an easy line and reporting on what they’re doing.”

James pulled it off, embedding herself with a group of UK environmental activists for well over a year. The entertaining and surprisingly upbeat film tracks them as they pull off a series of stunts that included locking themselves to the Royal Bank of Scotland, scaling the chimney of Didcot Power Station and standing up to brutal police at the Copenhagen Summit.

To gain her subjects' trust, James worked with a firm that represents activists. They taught her how to complete the project without major ramifications.

“All the material was kept in a safe house, with an address not connected to me or any of them,” James said. “I didn’t keep any written logs with me. So the first couple of months of post-production were really fun," she laughed.

"The other crucial thing," she said, "is that I made it very clear to the activists that I would let them see a rough cut of the film before they signed any release forms. “

James first drew acclaim in 1999 for “Wag the Dogma,” which sold to Channel 4 and E4. Broadcasters funded the majority of her subsequent projects.

“Just Do It” marks James’ first grassroots project, largely made possible by 447 crowdfunders and private donations.

“There was interest [from broadcasters] if I was going to be cynical about the subject matter,” she said. “But these people are heroes. Yes, it’s a sympathetic portrait. But everything I make is propaganda, so fuck it.”

“Just Do It” opens nationwide in the UK on July 15. For more on the film click here. To learn more on "At Night I Fly," click here.

The Sheffield Doc/Fest runs through June 12.

Sheffield Doc/Fest '11 Locks Down Full Lineup

Nigel M Smith — Mon, 09 May 2011 07:06:52 GMT

Over 110 films make up this year's Sheffield Doc/Fest lineup, 79 of which are doc features making their world, international, European and/or UK premieres.

Among the highlights on tap for this year's edition: the already announced opening night film, "Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold," from director Morgan Spurlock; Danfung Dennis' recently acquired Sundance award-winner "Hell and Back Again"; Steve James' acclaimed "The Interrupters"; the Hole doc "Hit So Hard" which premiered earlier this year at SXSW; the Donald Trump bashing "You've Been Trumped," which recently premiered at Hot Docs; and "We Are Poets" from Sheffield based filmmakers Alex Ramseyer-Bache and Daniel Lucchesi.

The festival will also feature a number of tributes. Veteran filmmaker Albert Maysles ("Grey Gardens") will be at Sheffiled to screen his films and give a Masterclass. Indian documentary filmmaker Mani Kaul will be present for a rare screening of his biodoc "Siddheswari Devil." And the late cinematopgrapher Richard Leacock will be remembered with screenings of Richard Drew's "The Chair" and Robert J. Flaherty's "Louisiana Story."

The full Sheffield Doc/Fest program can be viewed here. The festival runs from June 8th through June 12th, 2011.

Spurlock's "Greatest Movie" to Launch Sheffield Doc/Fest '11

Nigel M Smith — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 06:41:17 GMT

Sheffield Doc/Fest will kick-off this year with the European premiere of Morgan Spurlock's latest, "Pom Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold."

Around 120 documentaries round out this year's slate, many of them making their European premiere following launches at Sundance. Highlights include Ian Palmer's "Knuckle," Steve James' acclaimed "The Interrupters," Marshall Curry's "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front," and Andrew Rossi's "Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times."

The 18th Sheffield Doc/Fest runs June 8th through June 12th.

Full release below:

MORGAN SPURLOCK to open SHEFFIELD DOC/FEST
plus European premieres for five Sundance titles

12 April 2011: Sheffield Doc/Fest, the UK’s biggest international documentary festival, will open on Wednesday 8 June with the European premiere of Pom Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, attended by acclaimed filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. Pom Wonderful: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is Spurlock’s scathingly funny look at the world of product placement, marketing and advertising, and his efforts to finance this film by exactly the same means.

“We’re thrilled to open with the European premiere of Pom Wonderful: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and have Morgan Spurlock attend”, says Doc/Fest Director, Heather Croall, “the film won high praise and many fans at its world premiere at Sundance and we know it’ll find more at Sheffield.”

In addition to the opening night Morgan Spurlock will give a masterclass, offering an in-depth discussion of his work. Pom Wonderful: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is being sold worldwide by Content Media Corp.

The highly acclaimed film programme features around 120 docs, including a number that will receive their European premiere at Doc/Fest, having launched earlier this year at Sundance. Five such highlights are: Ian Palmer’s Knuckle, Steve James’ The Interrupters, Marshall Curry’s If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Matthew Bate’s Shut Up Little Man: An Audio Misadventure and Andrew Rossi’s Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times.

Ian Palmer's epic 12-year journey into the world of an Irish Traveller community Knuckle takes us inside their secretive and exhilarating bare-knuckle fighting lives. Chronicling a history of violent feuding between rival families, the film follows James Quinn McDonagh and his younger brother Michael, as they fight for their reputations and the honour of their family name. Following its world premiere at Sundance, Knuckle was picked up by ContentFilm for international distribution and Revolver Entertainment for cinema release in the UK and Ireland. Producers, RISE Films are developing Knuckle into a drama series HBO. BBC Storyville first learned about the project at a Doc/Fest pitching workshop in Cardiff in 2009 and subsequently commissioned it, joining RISE films and The Irish Film Board on the production.

RISE Films also co-produced The Interrupters, with the non-profit Chicago based production studio Kartemquin Films - the sixth collaboration for Steve James (Hoop Dreams) with Kartemquin. The Interrupters is an intimate journey into the stubborn persistence of violence in our cities in which Steve James achieved unparalleled access to three violence Interrupters - ex-gang members who have renounced their former ways - who now work to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once employed. Following its Sundance world premiere, The Interrupters was awarded Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Miami International Film Festival. Steve James will attend Doc/Fest and give a masterclass.

Marshall Curry’s If A Tree Falls: A Story of The Earth Liberation Front will play within a festival strand about the role of documentary and social media in the protest movement. It tells the story of the rise and fall of a group within the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an organisation which the FBI has called America's "number one domestic terrorism threat." For years the ELF had launched spectacular arsons against dozens of businesses they accused of destroying the environment. In December 2005, Daniel McGowan was arrested by Federal agents in a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists. The film interweaves a verité chronicle of Daniel on house arrest as he faces life in prison, with a dramatic recounting of the events that led to his involvement with the group. And along the way it asks hard questions about environmentalism, activism, and the way we define terrorism.

In Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure Australian filmmaker Matthew Bate has taken the surreal recordings of two men fighting – which became the world’s first viral pop-culture sensation – and turned it into an hilarious and critically acclaimed documentary feature.

In the revealing Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times director Andrew Rossi gained unprecedented access to the workings and journalists of the paper’s media desk and shows the impact that internet news and social media, is having on traditional printed media.

“Moving to June from November has allowed Doc/Fest to bring new international hits to launch into Europe so much more quickly”, say Hussain Currimbhoy, Doc/Fest Film Programmer. “We’re delighted to be showcasing these very strong titles out of Sundance, and this is just the tip of the iceberg!”

Sheffield Doc/Fest and IndieGoGo Announce Partnership

Indiewire Staff — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:11:36 GMT

Sheffield Doc/Fest and IndieGoGo have announced a multi-year partnership focused on crowdfunding projects and European investors and filmmakers. The union will also include the creation of Crowdfunding Fellows, a program which chooses pre-existing IndieGoGo projects to promote internationally on IndieGoGo.com's "Partner Page."

indieWIRE asks: Will Crowdfunding Fellows really help raise the profiles of the selected films?

Below is the full press release from Doc/Fest, including synopses of the first five films selected for Crowdfunding Fellows.

April 6, 2011: Sheffield Doc/Fest and IndieGoGo is announcing a multi-year partnership that aims to significantly open up and promote crowdfunding projects and opportunities to European investors and filmmakers. The partnership will create Crowdfunding Fellows, selected by Doc/Fest from pre-existing IndieGoGo projects and actively promoted throughout the international documentary community.

The first five Crowdfunding Fellows Doc/Fest have been selected and will be hosted on IndieGoGo.com’s “Partner Page.” IndieGoGo’s “Partner Page” will be updated frequently as more noteworthy projects arise. The first five projects are:

"Anyone Can Play Guitar." The story of Radiohead, Ride, Supergrass, Foals, Swervedriver, Talulah Gosh and the tiny local music scene that spawned them. At the time of press release $29,314 has been contributed to this project. Goal: $30,000 (15 days left; Ending April 20).

"You've Been Trumped". Because Money and Power Should Not Cost the Earth. At the time of press release $14,365 has been contributed to this project. Goal $19,000 (26 days left; Ending May 1).

"Kettling of the Voices." WARNING: This documentary will ignite a passion to protest!!! At time of press release $120 has been contributed to this project. Goal $16,000 goal (69 days left; Ending June 14).

"Victor, Victorioso." The Mexican government put the Narco-state before its Baja California citizens. One man put life and limb on the line to make it know. At the time of press release $1,170 has been
contributed to this project. Goal $9.000 (66 days left; Ending June 11).

"Up in Smoke." One man's fight to revolutionise agriculture and help slow global warming. At time of press release $0 have been contributed to this project. Goal $6,000 (86 days left; Ending July 1).

”At Doc/Fest we’re passionate about the potential of new technology and new opportunities for funding and distribution,” says Charlie Phillips, MarketPlace Director. “Crowdfunding raises finance and builds a community for film projects. It's the future of collaboration between filmmakers, who can support each other outside of the constraints of both public and private finance. We’re delighted to be working with IndieGoGo to bring these opportunities to a wider community.”

“Documentary filmmakers from all over the world are using IndieGoGo to fund their films," says IndieGoGo Cofounder Slava Rubin. "So partnering with Sheffield Doc/Fest, one of the largest documentary festivals in the world, is a perfect fit."

Since launching in 2008, IndieGoGo has helped support more than 23,000 campaigns in 159 countries. As a result, it is the world’s leading international crowdfunding website.

Last year, Sheffield Doc/Fest made festival history when it held its first festival crowdfunding pitch that raised £1,500 for Stephen Burton’s winning project "This is Me," which has since moved into production. Saturday June 11, 2011 has been deemed “Crowdfunding Day” and will feature Doc/Fest’s second crowdfunding pitch in addition to presentations and discussions centered around crowdfunding and tips on how filmmakers can gain collaborators, fans and followers.

"Apocalypse" and "Donor" World Premieres Shine at High-Spirited 2010 Sheffield Doc/Fest

Bryce J. Renninger — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 05:40:59 GMT

Though the Sheffield Doc/Fest has announced that it will be moving its dates to June next year due to the crowded slate of European doc fests in the fall, the fest's last November installment still had a lot going for it. Just wrapping up yesterday, the fest boasted a series of world premieres and a healthy dose of mentoring and pitching. The festival, which has rapidly grown from being primarily an industry networking event with a film festival has grown into an incredibly important event for projects-in-development to get funding and resources, a localized point for industry networking and mentoring, and a chance for industry professionals and the Yorkshire public to see some of the most provocative documentary films the world has to offer.

Industry professionals were clearly impressed with the number and quality of the meetings they had. Lots of exciting projects were brought to the attention of funders and potential production partners. Filmmakers got the chance to gain expert advice from filmmakers Anand Patwardhan ("War and Peace") and Kim Longinotto ("Pink Saris," "Rough Aunties") and her sometimes editor Oliver Huddleston. Moreover, everyone had access to some of the best docs this year has to offer. Speaking of the changes instilled in the few years that he and Heather Croall took the reins of the festival, Programmer Hussain Currimbhoy noted that while the fest has gained a reputation for being both a film festival and an industry networking event, the proof is in the numbers. He noted that the festival has a slim program of about 70 carefully selected films, representative of the best of the best, and that in recent years, the number of industry delegates attending the festival has increased nearly fourfold, to just under two thousand.

Antony Butts's "After the Apocalypse" is an incredibly disorienting, picturesque issue film that refuses to provide any answers or solutions but stays fascinating nonetheless. A part of Kazakhstan close to the Polygon, where the Soviet Union did many of its nuclear bomb tests, has a rate of birth defects twice that of the rest of the world. Butts's camera heads into the lives of one doctor, who encourages abortion so that the incapable state does not have to take care of the abandoned masses of children, and one woman, who has been ostracized for her facial deformities and gets pregnant. Sparks fly in the scenes where the two must deal with one other, but seeing both in their everyday lives provides an actually fair and balanced view of both of their lives, which leaves the viewer with no right answers for the many questions brought up by the film.

An image from Anthony Butts's "After the Apocalypse." [Image courtesy of Sheffield Doc/Fest]

A true crowd pleaser, Jerry Rothwell's "Donor Unknown" is the story of a man who donated sperm while dancing in revues and posing for Playgirl. Several of his biological children have found each other, through an online sibling registry for people created by the sperm of donors and a New York Times article that used two of the siblings to report on the service. The father, now a hippy who lives in a RV on Venice Beach, meets the children, who are certainly surprised by the life path of the man whose genes gave them all a tall forehead and bushy eyebrows.

Other world premieres that got major buzz included "Marathon Boy," the story of an Indian slum mentor that finds he has a running prodigy on his hands, and "The Battle for Barking," which follows both campaigns in a tough election for a contested local seat in the UK government, which both got raves from the audience that, unfortunately, did not include this writer. Jonathan Schell and Eric Liebman's portrait of a tantric healer, "Sex Magic, Manifesting Maya," proved quite provocative and, in its first screening, controversial. Schell, who was present for the Q&A's had a bit of trouble knowing how to talk about his subject's sincerity, and it seems Schell's ambiguity rubbed off the first screening's audience, which caused a quite raucous question and answer session.

Some films that have been around the fest circuit got another bump from Sheffield: "Sons of Perdition," which follows the exiled young men and women of the Fundamental Latter Day Saints, Warren Jeffs's religious splinter group, screened at the festival and promises to have a healthy life on the long tail of small screen distribution in the states. Jose Padilha's "Secrets of the Tribe," a Sundance alum, also got wide raves for an incredibly well-told talking heads recounting of several decades of anthropological research on the Yanomami indigenous people in Brazil and Venezuela. The film covers the vast infighting within the field of anthropology over standards and ethics involved with the many high profile studies of the remote tribe. Audiences continued to love this year's favorites like "Marwencol" and "The Oath."

The festival also screened some really stellar short films, like Andy Taylor Smith's "This Chair Is Not Me" (a winner at Sheffield and Silverdocs), which is an absolutely stunning portrayal of a dancer with cerebral palsy told in recreations with an actor, a voice over spoken by the subject's automated voice machine, gorgeous cinematographic experiments with objects in a home, and footage of the subject performing some of his dancing. Tim Travers Hawkins's "Surpriseville," which had its world premiere at the fest, interviews the inhabitants of a gated community in Surprise, Arizona. With deliciously awkward interview framing and well-shot B-roll, the film shows the community members offering up quite sad indictments of the suburban life ("I only know my neighbors are having a barbeque because I can smell it.") to frightening metaphors (the fences and security, like those that protect U.S. borders, keep the riffraff out). Emily Branham's lo-fi doc "Legend: A Film about Greg Garing" was also a quite powerful story of music-making and aging.

The organizers here in Sheffield now have their work cut out for them -- how to get enough rest before they have to do this all over again in only in seven months? Something says they'll be able to do it.

Check out a full list of winners from this year's fest here.

"Pink Saris" Tops Sheffield Doc/Fest's 2010 Awards

Bryce J. Renninger — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 06:48:07 GMT

Here in Sheffield last night, the 2010 Sheffield Doc/Fest award winners were announced at the city's Lyceum Theater. As was previous announced, the fest honored Kim Longinotto with the Inspiration Award, an award given to an industry figure that has done immense positive work for the documentary industry. A jury led by indieWIRE's former Editor-in-Chief Eugene Hernandez gave the fest's special jury award to Longinotto's in-competition film "Pink Saris," the powerful story of an Indian woman whose organization, the Gulabi Gang (the Pink Gang), helps out women who feel abandoned by their families, communities, or society-at-large. Patricio Guzman received a special mention by the jury for his film "Nostalgia for the Light," a thoughtful essay film that links an astronomical observatory in a South American desert to the search for the remains of political prisoners, both of which are going on in the same desert. Hernandez announced the jury's honored films, noting, "Given the stark differences between these two particularly exceptional films, we wanted to recognise both. Guzman’s 'Nostalgia for the Light' is a poetic, mysterious and awe-inspiring film of mystery and art. It is a beautifully composed and unexpected work that explores life's biggest questions in a profound, cinematic way. And in Kim Longinotto’s complex and ambiguous, but uncompromising 'Pink Saris' we witness the difficult process of observational cinema. With rich and complex characters, this vérité film explores deeply troubling social injustice. It is dramatic, as well as transformative."

The festival's Innovation Award was given to Clio Barnard for "The Arbor." The head of the Innovation Jury, Julianne Pierce noted of the film about the Yorkshire playwright Andrea Dunbar told through interviews with family members, "The Arbor combines powerful storytelling, immaculate attention to detail and craft with an ingenious use of actors, testimonial voice-over and lip-synching." Philippe Brault and David Dufresne’s "Prison Valley" was given a special mention by the Innovation jury.

The Sheffield Youth Jury Award, decided upon by a group of young cinephiles, awarded Laura Fairrie's "The Battle for Barking" as their winner, with Gemma Atwal's "Marathon Boy" receiving a special mention. The Sheffield Green Award for environmentally themed films selected Floris-Jan van Luyn's "Rainmakers," about a local versus national struggle for environmental policy in a part of China, as its winner. Michael Madsen's "Into Eternity" was the jury's choice for a special mention.

Will Woodward's "No Easy Time" received the Sheffield Student Doc Award. The Digital Revolutions short film competition, which came with hefty cash prizes, awarded Andy Taylor-Smith's beautiful portrait of a man with Cerebral Palsy in a wheelchair living his life to his fullest "This Chair is Not Me" with the prize in the amateur category, and Edward McGown's "The Scanner" in the professional category.

At Sheffield, Filmmakers Roller Skate While Showing the Power of Docs

Bryce J. Renninger — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:05:32 GMT

"It's been years since I've last been on these. I thought it was something you don't forget how to do, but you do," the political documentarian Anand Patwardhan bantered as he returned his roller skates to the counter. Sheffield Doc/Fest may be the only one of the fifty film festival's profiled in indieWIRE's festival calendar that celebrates the art of documentary filmmaking with a roller disco.

Set in the heart of the city, Sheffield Doc/Fest is a festival that spotlights the best in international and British documentary, but it is also a prime meeting spot where filmmakers can meet with the industry's top funders, distributors, and leaders in TV acquisitions. On the festival side of things, doc circuit favorites like "Waste Land" and "Marwencol" are playing along films that have lied below the radar at other fests or are world premiering here like Patricio Guzman's strong essay film about the links between watching the stars and searching for lost political prisoners in a Chilean desert, "Nostalgia for the Light."

The festival kicked off with a doc darling of 2010, "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work." Rivers was in attendance with the film's directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. Fielding questions from the English audience about bringing her crass humor to the other side of the Atlantic, Rivers remembered something her husband had said, "Once English people like you, they like you forever." After the filmmakers and Rivers rehashed the criticisms that some people have laid against them for taking on a topic that wasn't "serious," one audience member asked how a performer that was that serious about her craft and helping other people could live in a home with ornate Louis XIV decor, punctuating his comment with "I just don't get it." Rivers reminded the audience that we're all complex, that there are plenty of sides to anyone person. Reinforcing her earlier point that "audiences aren't stupid," Rivers was also keen to point out that she was intent on not making a "Biography"-style puff piece and not giving the filmmakers any limitations, only helpful suggestions like "include more dogs... people like dogs."

Rivers's points about her own film highlight the versatility and power of documentary film in showing the many sides of its subjects: issues, people, or events. Speaking about her film on homelessness in London, "On the Streets," Penny Woolcock noted that she was surprised by the course of her film. "I set out to make a film about the weather," she said in the film's Q&A, "but I realized that I was the only one on the streets complaining about the weather. They get used to it." Instead, Woolcock came to the conclusion that most of these people were not out on the streets because they couldn't find a room through government organizations or other means. She realized that the majority of the city's homeless had a history of abuse, physical or sexual.

Since finishing the film, Woolcock has been intent on showing it to government officials in her effort to get the UK government to see homelessness as a mental health issue and not a housing issue, and to change the bureaucratic infrastructure accordingly. Prior to the film's Sheffield screening, Woolcock screened the film in London with many of the homeless subjects in the audience. After she fielded a question about policy from someone in the audience, homeless members of the audience asked to answer that question themselves. For Woolcock, this symbolized the motivation of the film: To give her subjects the voice of which they have so often been stripped.

In fielding questions for his doc "Life with Murder," John Kastner noted his own process for bringing the story of a family struck the tragedy of the murder of their daughter. He came to the subject of the film, Mason Jenkins, who was found guilty of the murder of his sister, after making a film on one of his cellmates. The former film's subject, whose parents never visited told Kastner, "but there's this other guy whose parents come to the prison all the time." From there, Kastner followed Jenkins's family closely, becoming quite sympathetic to the unique position of the Jenkins family, who stand in support of their only son. The film sticks with the family as new developments come from Mason about the night his sister was murdered, and that Kastner's camera is there to capture his new testimonies and the evolution of the family in response to them is a true testament to the emotional power of the documentary form. As the fest rolls on, more stories will be told and in the center of town, deals will be made solidifying a future for stories that will come to the screen at upcoming editions of the fest.