Sheffield DocFest — A–Z of films

16 Years Till Summer shows what can be done on a low budget with patience, insight and attention to detail.

Neville and Gordon wisely embed the verbal duels into the surroundings.

The film is an interesting, timely, though ultimately dispiriting look at how the twin forces of institutional bigotry and internal discord fragmented one of the key organising forces in black America.

One person's armed vigilante is another person's guardian angel and the border between these two ideas is wafer thin and easily crossed as Matthew Heineman's beautifully shot and probing documentary shows.

The film successfully unsettles the viewer by demonstrating the number of headaches the rush to harness the power of the atom has left us.

If you're only vaguely familiar with the Damned, this documentary will leave you wondering where you've been all your life.

A brave and shocking statement of the blinding obvious - success drives money and money corrupts.

At turns inspiring and troubling, Democrats is ultimately a fascinating study of the dangerous grassroots work that changing a harsh political system requires.

Katharine Round has produced a film that feels human and substantial.

Unflinching but uplifting, Longinotto's film shows how even one person, if they put their minds to it, can make an enormous difference.

An unsettling primer on a new type of warfare that is being developed much more quickly than the legal restrictions to control it.

Even if Dick took away the interviewees and voiceovers from this film, the statistics alone would make for startling reading.

What emerges as so extraordinary about the way Iris presents herself, and what makes her so beloved by many people in the fashion industry, is the total freedom of reference she enjoys in anyone.

Morgen creates a vivid, colourful and quite poignant rush through a life that was, at once, explosively creative and deeply troubled.

The creative spirit displayed by the young, adventurous musicians in the Landfill Harmonic is a joy to behold.

This documentary brings an important personal dimension to the long struggle for equal marriage.

Oppenheimer boils down the atrocity to the experience of a single family, leaving us to extrapolate back up.

Purely observational though it is, this is a film that becomes devastating in its intensity.

Brando takes it all in good spirits and you sense that he is always on top

Both Chin and Ozturk have professional filmmaking experience but even so, what they manage to capture is remarkable given the conditions.

It’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, having more the feel of a gallery installation than a feature film.

With such a fascinating subject, it's hard for director Jeanie Finlay to go wrong.

The further the documentary progresses, the more enlightenment is strangled by hand-wringing.

The principal focus of the film is on one man's personal relationship to his faith.

Saeed Taji Farouky and Michael McEvoy's bleak snapshot of life in the Afghan National Army comes as a sharp reminder of the impact of 'unfinished' conflict on local populations for whom an 'exit strategy' is not an option.

It is more like a primer on her life than an in-depth study.

Charming and heartfelt.