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Sheffield DocFest · 2009

Sheffield DocFest 2009

International Features

Feature length documentaries from all around the world.

Programme

13 films · 4 reviews

Jump to a film

21 Below

A happily married woman tries to sort out the life of her 20 year old pregnant sister, one of whose existing children is dying and whose boyfriend is upsetting their mother.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Samantha Buck)

American Radical: The Trials Of Norman Finkelstein

A look at the controversial American academic on tour, with commentary from leading debaters.

(Country: Canada, US, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine; Year: 2009; Director: David Ridgen, Nicolas Rossier; Stars: Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, Alan M. Dershowitz, Richard Finkelstein, Raul Hilberg, Nidal Barham) , Trailer

Antoine

Portrait of a five-year-old blind boy who uses a mini boom microphone to discover and capture the sounds around him, exploring his life and his imagination.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2008; Director: Laura Bari; Writer: Laura Bari; Stars: Antoine Houang)

Bastardy

Review preview for Bastardy

Courtin-Wilson's approach is graceful, impressionistic and with the heart of a poet.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
The actor who founded Australia's first Aboriginal theatre company talks about his life, his heroin habit, and his criminal tendencies.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2009; Director: Amiel Courtin-Wilson; Stars: Jack Charles) , Official site

Full review

I'm Dangerous With Love

The story of a musician who cured his multiple drug addictions using the African hallucinogen ibogaine, and wants to help others do the same but discovers it can be dangerous.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Michel Negroponte)

The Inheritors (Los Herederos)

Documentary observes how hard work defines the lives and existence of children and their families.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2008; Director: Eugenio Polgovsky)

Kings Of Pastry

Review preview for Kings Of Pastry

It is a wonderful comment on the French as a nation that they can take something like this so very, very seriously.

Val Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
An American pastry chef travels to France to enter the Olympics of cooking, in pursuit of a red, white and blue collar from the Meilleur Ouvrier de France.

(Country: USA, UK, Netherlands; Year: 2009; Director: Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker) , Official site

Full review

October Country

An ordinary American family struggles with poverty and the impact of war.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher; Writer: Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri) , Official site , Trailer

Once Upon A Time Proletarian (Women ceng jing de wuchanzhe, 12 Tales of a Country)

Review preview for Once Upon A Time Proletarian

The overall, very sad message of the film is that here is a nation of people freed from the gruelling work patterns of the past, but who now find themselves trapped in dull, monotonous and soul-destroying jobs.

Val Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
An exploration of the social and political landscape of modern China.

(Country: China, UK, Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Xialou Guo, Pamela Casey)

Full review

Presumed Guilty

A documentary following a man accused of murder who must fight for his life against a corrupt justice system, effectively guilty until proven innocent.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2009; Director: Roberto Hernández, Geoffrey Smith; Stars: Tonio Zuniga)

Sacred Places

Attendees at a secret film club in Burkina Faso, where banned films are shown, discuss the state of the film industry in Africa.

(Country: Cameroon, France; Year: 2009; Director: Jean-Marie Teno)

The September Issue

Review preview for The September Issue

A disarmingly and deliciously unexpected celebration of matriarchs with attitude.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Fly-on-the-wall look inside Vogue.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: RJ Cutler) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

Voices From El-Sayed

A look at how cochlear implants are being received in the world's largest deaf community, in El-Sayed, Palestine.

(Country: Israel, Switzerland; Year: 2009; Director: Oded Adomi Leshem)