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Sheffield DocFest · 2012

Sheffield DocFest 2012

Global Encounters

The wold is your oyster with this selection of impressive documentaries from around the globe.

Programme

64 films · 22 reviews

Jump to a film

1/2 Revolution

Two documentary makers offer their footage of the Egyptian revolution of 2011, from the thrill of participating in mass protests to the dismay and fear at realising their movement has been infiltrated.

(Country: Denmark, Egypt; Year: 2011; Director: Omar Shagawi, Karim el Hakim; Stars: Omar Shagawi, Karim el Hakim)

5 Broken Cameras (Five Broken Cameras)

Review preview for 5 Broken Cameras

This is a deeply personal account of life in Palestine, and also one which sends out a strong political message.

Val Kermode · 4 out of 5
A Palestinian journalist chronicles his village’s resistance to a separation barrier being erected on their land and in the process captures his young son’s lens on the world.

(Country: Palestine, Israel, France; Year: 2011; Director: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi)

Full review

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Review preview for Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Weiwei is such a fascinating subject that even a documentary that never seems to stray into the experimental is compelling, but white text on a black screen does not a revolution make.

Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
Renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has garnered international attention as much for his ambitious artwork as his political provocations and increasingly public clashes with the Chinese government.

(Country: US, China; Year: 2011; Director: Alison Klayman; Stars: Changwei Gu, Ai Weiwei, Evan Osnos, Ying Gao, Tehching Hsieh, Huang Hung, Zuzhou Zuoxiao, Yanping Liu, Danqing Chen, Inserk Yang) , Official site

Full review

All Hail The Beat

Marvin Gaye used it to craft Sexual Healing. Its affordability turned a generation of kids around the world into pioneering musicians, and the genres of house, techno and electro wouldn’t exist without it. Yet most of the producers who use its sound have never seen the Roland TR-808 drum machine...

(Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Nelson George)

The Arab World In Revolution(s)

The ongoing, unpredictable change in the Arab world represents fertile ground for cross-platform programming. Arte’s online project highlights the revolution’s many different perspectives. In addition to Generation Revolution, which profiles the young movers and shakers of the movement, Journal 2.0 provides blogs, cartoons and other related content.

(Country: France; Year: 2011; Director: Julien Félix, Gildas Corgnet, Marc Ghostine, Charlotte Bienaimé, Alexandre Grellier, Yann Le Gléau, Sébastien Mesquida)

Bar Code (Code Barre)

Objects are all around us, with emotive stories to tell. In this NFB and Arte France cross-platform project, 30 filmmakers have made 100 films about everyday objects. Access them through the web site or IPhone app, by scanning the object closest to you, and add your own story to the mix…

(Country: Canada, France; Year: 2011; Director: Philippe Archontakis, Pascal Brouard)

The Bastard Sings The Sweetest Song

A Guyanan man who ekes out a living rising fighting cocks and songbirds takes drastic measures to try and save his elderly mother from alcoholism.

(Country: Denmark, Canada, Sweden; Year: 2012; Director: Christy Garland)

Bear 71

Travel to Canada’s Banff National Park, and into the life of Bear 71. Her every move is tracked via a radio collar, and watched by park rangers.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2011; Director: Leanne Allison, Jeremy Mendes)

Blames & Flames (Falgoosh)

The history of the Iranian revolution as the history of cinema.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2011; Director: Mohammadreza Farzad)

Bones Brigade: An Autobiography

When six teenage boys came together as a skateboarding team in the 1980s, they reinvented not only their chosen sport but themselves too – as they evolved from insecure outsiders to the most influential athletes in the field.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Stacy Peralta; Stars: Stacy Peralta, Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero, Lance Mountain, Mike McGill) , Official site

Buena Vista Social Club

Review preview for Buena Vista Social Club

The character of the players, the vibrant energy of the music, the faded grandeur of a city spared the vanity of restoration gives the film a unique quality.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
Documentary about the Cuban stars who went on to become an international phenomenon.

(Country: Cuba; Year: 1999; Director: Wim Wenders; Stars: Luis Barzaga, Joachim Cooder, Ry Cooder, Julio Alberto Fernndez, Ibrahim Ferrer, Carlos Gonzlez, Rubn Gonzlez, Eliades Ochoa, Omara Portuondo, Compay Segundo)

Full review

Burmese Butterfly

A young transgender women talks about the flowering of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in her country.

(Country: Myanmar, Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Hnin Ei Hlaing; Stars: Phyo Lay)

Call Me Kuchu

Review preview for Call Me Kuchu

Despite its grim subject, this is a film full of fight, with all the energy you'd expect from that.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
The story of the Ugandan campaigners who have spoken out against the country's proposed Anti-Gay Bill.

(Country: USA; Year: 2012; Director: Malika Zouhali-Worrall, Katherine Fairfax Wright; Stars: David Kato Kisule, Naome Ruzindana, Stosh Mugisha) , Official site

Full review

Cave Of Forgotten Dreams (Caves of Forgotten Dreams)

Review preview for Cave Of Forgotten Dreams

If there is anybody who can provide insight into the lives of those long-vanished it must be Herzog.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An exploration of the Chauvet caves in Southern France where the oldest known human paintings can be found.

(Year: 2010; Director: Werner Herzog; Writer: Werner Herzog; Stars: Charles Fathy, Werner Herzog)

Full review

Chasing Ice

Review preview for Chasing Ice

The arguments are persuasive, and Balog is a charismatic presence at all times.

Owen Van Spall · 4 out of 5
Time-lapse photography of glaciers over several years providing tangible visual evidence of climate change.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Jeff Orlowski; Writer: Mark Monroe; Stars: James Balog, Svavar Jonatansson, Adam LeWinter, Jeff Orlowski) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

China Heavyweight

In central China, where a coach recruits poor rural teenagers and turns them into Western-style boxing champions, the top students face dramatic choices as they graduate – should they fight for the collective good or for themselves?

(Year: 2012; Director: Yung Chang; Writer: Yung Chang; Stars: Zongli He, Yunfei Miao, Moxiang Qi, Zhong Zhao)

Circus School (Ma Xi Xue Xiao)

Chinese acrobats undertake exhausting and dangerous training as they bid to be the best.

(Country: China, United States; Year: 2006; Director: Dingding Ke, Jing Guo)

Enthusiasm: Symphony Of The Donbass (Entuziazm: Simfoniya Donbassa)

A symphonic tribute to the industrial workers of Donbass, looking at the dangers posed by religion and alcohol.

(Country: Russia; Year: 1930; Director: Dziga Vertov)

A Fierce Green Fire

A definitive history of one of the most important movements of the 20th century, A Fierce Green Fire chronicles the environmental movement’s fascinating evolution from the 1960s to the present.

(Country: US; Year: 2011; Director: Mark Kitchell; Writer: Tom Turner) , Official site

Fire In The Blood

Review preview for Fire In The Blood

Showing a remarkably firm hand for a first-time director, Gray skilfully guides us through a sea of statistics concerning those dying from the disease and archive footage and recollections of the time, while building a cast-iron case against Big Pharma.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A look at the struggle to make anti-retroviral ADS drugs available to infected people worldwide, no matter their financial resources. Read what Dylan Mohan Gray told us about making the film.

(Country: India; Year: 2012; Director: Dylan Mohan Gray) , Official site

Full review See: Dylan Mohan Gray interview about Fire In The Blood

The Globe Collector

Review preview for The Globe Collector

DeRoche has created a documentary that's both heart-warming and illuminating.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Meet Andrew and his amazing collection of lamps.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2012; Director: Summer DeRoche; Stars: Andrew Pullen)

Full review

Going Up The Stairs

A dutiful Iranian wife overcomes her insecurities and her husband's objections and becomes an internationally celebrated artist.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2011; Director: Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami)

The House I Live In

Review preview for The House I Live In

Jarecki, as always, does a good job of presenting a huge amount of information in bite-size chunks.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Does the War on Drugs do more harm than good?

(Country: Netherlands, UK, Germany, Japan, Australia, US; Year: 2012; Director: Eugene Jarecki; Writer: Eugene Jarecki, Christopher St John; Stars: Eugene Jarecki, Nannie Jeter, Betty Chism, Dennis Whidbee, Elzie Hooks, Robert Wilson, David Simon, Michael Correa, Gabor Mate, Charles Bowden, Mark W Bennet, Maurice Haltiwanger, Jim K McGough, Eric Franklin, Don Walker) , Official site

Full review

High Tech, Low Life

Citizen journalists in China risk the wrath of the authorities to put the news they feel is important on the internet.

(Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Steve Maing; Stars: Zhou Shuguang, Tiger Temple)

Hometown Boy (Gin Chen Xiao Ze)

The celebrated artist Liu Xiaodong returns to his hometown to paint once again the people whose portraits first gained him acclaim.

(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2011; Director: Hung-I Yao; Stars: Liu Xiaodong, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Lao Hongyi)

The Honor Code (The Honour Code)

Review preview for The Honor Code

Argues that what is needed is not a change in the law but a change in the way of thinking.

Val Kermode · 3 out of 5
An animated exploration of the tradition of honour killing, asking how it might be brought to an end.

(Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Katy Chevigny)

Full review

The Island President

Review preview for The Island President

Shenk gets almost unfettered acccess to Nasheed, who is refreshingly honest about the tactics he is employing to get other countries onside

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The story of President Mohamed Nasheed, of the Maldives, and his attempts to save the country by brokering global agreement on climate change.

(Year: 2011; Director: Jon Shenk; Stars: Mohamed Nasheed) , Official site

Full review

Indie Game: The Movie

Follow the dramatic journeys of indie game developers as they create games and release those works, and themselves, to the world.

(Year: 2011; Director: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky; Stars: Jonathan Blow, Edmund McMillen, Tommy Refenes, Phil Fish) , Official site

Jai Bhim Comrade (Jai Bhim Comrade)

A look at India's caste system and the Dalits struggling for dignity against over 2,000 years' worth of prejudice.

(Country: India; Year: 2011; Director: Anand Patwardhan)

Jesse Owens

The story of the black Olympic athlete whose prowess humiliated the Nazis but who returned home to a life of opression and exclusion in racially segregated America.

(Country: United States; Year: 2011; Director: Laurens Gant)

Japan: Children Of The Tsunami

Review preview for Japan: Children Of The Tsunami

The children tell us in their words and in their silence all we need to know.

Val Kermode · 4 out of 5
Compelling testimony from seven to 10-year-old survivors, reveals how last year’s Japanese tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident have changed children's lives forever.

(Country: UK, China, Denmark, Canada, Netherlands; Year: 2012; Director: Dan Reed)

Full review

Koyaanisqatsi

A movie with no conventional plot: merely a collection of expertly photographed scenes. Subject matter has a highly environmental theme.

(Country: United States; Year: 1982; Director: Godfrey Reggio)

The Last Waltz

A film account and presentation of the final concert of The Band.

(Year: 1978; Director: Martin Scorsese; Writer: Mardik Martin; Stars: The Band, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Ringo Starr, Paul Butterfield, Dr. John) , Official site

The Law In These Parts

Israel's 43-year military legal system in the Occupied Palestinian Territories unfolds through provocative interviews with the system’s architects and historical footage showing the enactment of these laws upon the Palestinian population.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2011; Director: Ra'anan Alexandrowicz)

The Life And Times Of Paul The Psychic Octopus

A documentary about Paul, the octopus whose uncanny World Cup football predictions made him an international superstar.

(Country: United States, Switzerland; Year: 2012; Director: Alexandre Philippe; Stars: Paul)

The Love Competition

At Stanford University’s first annual love competition, no touching is allowed. It’s all in the mind for the contestants, as they spend five minutes in an MRI machine thinking about their nearest and dearest...and trying to trigger the most neurochemical activity.

(Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Brent Hoff)

Love Free or Die

The story of Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop whose inauguration placed him at the centre of conflicts over homosexuality within the Anglican church.

(Country: United States; Year: 2011; Director: Macky Alston; Stars: Gene Robinson)

Lullaby (Kolybelnaja)

A propaganda film about the glorious things Stalin did for mothers and children.

(Country: Russia; Year: 1937; Director: Dziga Vertov; Stars: Joseph Stalin)

Man With A Movie Camera

A montage exploring great Soviet cities in the early years of Communism. Read our review of the Michael Nyman accompanied version.

(Country: Russia; Year: 1929; Director: Dziga Vertov)

Maori Boy Genius

Ngaa Rauuira is the young genius who has inspired his people and hopes to change their polical fortunes.

(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2011; Director: Pietra Brettkelly; Stars: Ngaa Rauuira Pumanawawhiti)

Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present (Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present)

Review preview for Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present

Matthew Akers’ all-seeing documentary cleverly mimics the form of the museum’s retrospective by saving the most revealing facts about Abramovic until professional and personal context is established.

Sophie Monks Kaufman · 5 out of 5
Marina Abramović prepares for a major retrospective of her work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York hoping to finally silence four decades of skeptics who proclaim: 'But why is this art?'

(Country: USA; Year: 2011; Director: Matthew Akers; Stars: Marina Abramovic, Ulay) , Official site , Trailer

Full review

Maya Deren's Sink

This evocative experimental film pays tribute to Maya Deren, the mother of avant-guard American film. In a kaleidoscope approach, director Barbara Hammer layers many images with recreations of scenes from Deren’s films, projected into the homes where they were originally filmed.

(Year: 2011; Director: Barbara Hammer)

My Neighbourhood

“My father built that house and an Israeli judge came and closed it.” Angry young Mohommed lost his innocence when his family’s home was violently taken over by Israeli settlers. But support for their plight comes from an unlikely corner: Israelis, horrified at what is being done in their name.

(Country: Israel, Palestine, United States; Year: 2012; Director: Julia Bacha, Rebekah Wingert-Jabi)

Naqoyqatsi

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

(Country: United States; Year: 2002; Director: Godfrey Reggio)

One Breath - The Story of William Trubridge

It looks simple: you hold your breath and go as deep into the water as you can. But as William Trubridge has learned, triumphing in the dangerous world of free diving is all about mind over matter.

(Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Nicolas Rossier)

The Other Dream Team

Review preview for The Other Dream Team

A real slam dunk.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
The 1992 Lithuanian National Basketball Team went from the clutches of Communism to the Summer Olympics in Barcelona – a testament to the powerful role of sports as a catalyst for cultural identity.

(Country: Lithuania, US; Year: 2012; Director: Marius A. Markevicius; Writer: Marius A Markevicius, Jon Weinbach; Stars: Jim Lampley, Bill Walton, Greg Speirs, Mickey Hart, Arvydas Sabonis, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Dan Majerle, David Stern, Charles Smith, Jonas Valanciunas, Chris Mullin, Mitch Richmond, David Remnick, Vytautas Landsbergis, P.J. Carlesimo) , Official site

Full review

Paradise

Every day they take their lives in their hands in the Windy City – by cleaning the windows of Chicago’s skyscrapers. As they go about their jobs, invisible to the middle class workers on the inside, three Mexican window cleaners reveal their thoughts about life and death.

(Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Nadav Kurtz)

Photographic Memory

Struck by the difference between his son as a young child, on video, and his sun as a teenager today, the famous photographer goes in search of his own younger self.

(Country: United States, France; Year: 2011; Director: Ross McElwee; Stars: Ross McElwee)

Saloon

This beautiful short doc pays tribute to the mecca of male pampering that is the Indian barbershop. Beyond the windows of the saloon, male barbers work their magic on their customers, in very public displays of grooming and preening.

(Country: UK; Year: 2011; Director: Tom Pietrasik)

Saving Face

Review preview for Saving Face

This is a deserving Oscar winner and I urge you to see it.

Val Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A doctor battles to help two women who have suffered the distressingly common fate of having acid thrown in their faces for disobeying relatives.

(Country: United States, Pakistan; Year: 2011; Director: Daniel Junge, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy; Stars: Mohammad Jawad) , Official site

Full review

Scarlet Road

Review preview for Scarlet Road

The fact that the director is a long-time friend of Rachel means that there was a lot of trust involved when filming her work.

Val Kermode · 4 out of 5
A confident, assertive sex worker discusses her work and what it means to her clients, especially those with disabilities.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2011; Director: Catherine Scott; Stars: Rachel Wotton) , Official site

Full review See: Q&A with Catherine Scott and Rachel Wotton about Scarlet Road

Sector Zero

A journey into the troubled history of the Karantina district in Lebanon, looking at cultural responses to the horrors it has known.

(Country: Lebanon, United Arab Emirates; Year: 2011; Director: Nadim Mishlawi)

The Sheik and I

Review preview for The Sheik and I

The joke soon wears thin.

Val Kermode · 1 out of 5
The request for a filmmaker commissioned to make a documentary on subversive art to avoid making fun of the Sheik is asking for trouble.

(Country: United Arab Emirates; Year: 2012; Director: Caveh Zahedi)

Full review

Solar Roadways

Half think they’re geniuses, half think they’re crazy. You can decide for yourself as you learn about Idaho couple Scott and Julie’s big idea: Why not use the highways in America to make solar powered roadways that will move us away from coal dependence?

(Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Michele Ohayon)

Searching For Sugar Man (Searching For Sugarman)

Review preview for Searching For Sugar Man

A delightful experience for musos and the uninitiated alike, Searching For Sugar Man deserves to reach as wide an audience as its underdog hero eventually did himself.

David Graham · 4 out of 5
The true story of a brilliant yet forgotten musician and the revolutionaries he inspired on another continent.

(Country: Sweden, UK, Finland; Year: 2012; Director: Malik Bendjelloul; Writer: Malik Bendjelloul, Stephen 'Sugar' Segerman, Craig Bartholomew Strydom; Stars: Sixto Rodriguez)

Full review

Three Songs Of Lenin (Tri pesni o Lenine)

Documenting the legacy of Lenin.

(Country: Russia; Year: 1934; Director: Dziga Vertov)

The Tsunami And The Cherry Blossom

An introduction to the Japanese communities devastated by the March 2011 tsunami, looking to the cherry blossom as a symbol of hope.

(Country: United States; Year: 2011; Director: Lucy Walker)

Undefeated

Review preview for Undefeated

There are fights between players, season-threatening injuries, bashful romance and inspirational team talks, but none of it feels false.

Robert Munro · 4 out of 5
Meet the coach who is determined to help Mannassas High School football team overcome their 110 year losing streak.

(Country: United States; Year: 2011; Director: Dan Lindsay, TJ Martin; Stars: Bill Courtney)

Full review

We Are Legion: The Story Of The Hacktivists

The story of hacker group Anonymous, their battles against Scientology and their contribution to the Arab Spring.

(Country: United States; Year: 2011; Director: Brian Knappenberger)

We Were Here

Invited to upload their experiences of summer 2011, Australians responded in droves. Through their footage, director Amy Gebhardt tells the story of a nation enjoying its downtime – and suffering at the hands of Mother Nature. An exuberant, colourful, communal portrait of Australia.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2011; Director: Amy Gebhardt)

Where Is My Mind

A letter through his postbox informs 42-year-old Lee Gilliland that he has been classed as “lacking mental capacity” and will lose most of his rights, including the right to decide where he lives. Lee is determined not to go without a fight, and barricades himself inside his home.

(Country: UK; Year: 2012; Director: Martin Ginestie)