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Sheffield DocFest · 2019

Sheffield DocFest 2019

Doc/Adventure

Programme

21 films · 3 reviews

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808: How We Respond

Smartphone footage of the moment Honolulu residents thought they were going to be hit by a missile.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Ian Bell)

World premiere

99 Problems

The murky world of the unregulated ice-cream business.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2019; Director: Ross Killeen)

UK premiere

The Amazing Johnathan Documentary

What begins as a documentary following the final tour of a dying magician -- "The Amazing Johnathan" -- becomes an unexpected and increasingly bizarre journey as the filmmaker struggles to separate truth from illusion.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Ben Berman; Stars: Johnathan Szeles)

European premiere

American Factory

Review preview for American Factory

This consideration of multiple lives, rather than one constructed arc serves to underline the sense that each person is only a small cog turning in the bigger wheel of the machine.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring 2,000 blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert)

Full review

UK premiere

Baracoa

Summer is long and hot in the tiny Cuban village. Nine-year-old Leonel and his 13-year-old friend Antuán are fighting boredom as best they can by catching tadpoles and argue about hairstyles, while the sea calls and a move to Havana is on the horizon.

(Country: Colombia, Switzerland, United States, Cuba; Year: 2019; Director: Pablo Briones, Sean Clark, Jace Freeman; Writer: Pablo Briones; Stars: Leonel Aguilera, Antuàn Alemàn, Leonel Aguilera, Antuàn Alemàn)

UK premiere

A Bigger Splash

Semi-fictionalised account of the story behind David Hockney's famous swimming pool painting.

(Country: UK; Year: 1974; Director: Jack Hazan; Writer: Jack Hazan, David Mingay; Stars: David Hockney, Peter Schlesinger, Celia Birtwell, Henry Geldzahler, Mo McDermott, Kasmin, Mike Sida, Ossie Clark, Susan Brustman, Patrick Procktor, Betty Freeman, Nick Wilder, Joe McDonald, Edward Kalinski, Gregory)

Restoration European premiere

The Campaigners

The appeal of Sunday football.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Jamie Taylor)

World premiere

Canal

Psychogeographic essay examining abandoned parts of London's Grand Union Canal.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Chris Penty)

World premiere

The Cemetery Lightens (El Cemeterio Sea Lumbra)

On the eve of fatality, a man considers the meaning of death and continuity of existence.

(Country: Cuba; Year: 2018; Director: Luis Alejandro Yero; Writer: Luis Alejandro Yero)

UK premiere

Diego Maradona

Constructed from over 500 hours of never-before-seen footage, this documentary centres on the career of celebrated football player Diego Maradona who played for SSC Napoli in the 1980s.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Asif Kapadia)

UK premiere

The Fortress

A group of friends from Bucaramanga, the home of Columbia’s most violent football supporters, make a risky journey to an away match.

(Country: Colombia; Year: 2019; Director: Andres Torres)

International premire

If You Knew

After months of fighting and no communication, two teenage twin brothers come together to spend a day in Canvey Island.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Stroma Cairns)

World premiere

Jawline

Review preview for Jawline

There’s plenty of judgement to be passed, especially by cranky old writers like myself, but Mandelup does an admirable job of presenting her subjects on their own terms.

Jeremy Mathews · 4.5 out of 5
The film follows 16-year-old Austyn Tester, a rising star in the live-broadcast ecosystem who built his following on wide-eyed optimism and teen girl lust, as he tries to escape a dead-end life in rural Tennessee.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Liza Mandelup)

Full review

UK premiere

My Father The Spy

As a young Soviet student in 1978, Ieva could not have predicted that a holiday visit to her father, Imants Lesinskis, then working in the Soviet mission at the United Nations in New York City, would irreversibly split her life in two. This story charts her relationship with her double-agent dad.

(Country: Latvia, Germany, Czech Republic, Estonia; Year: 2019; Director: Gints Grube, Jaak Kilmi)

World premiere

Nomad: In The Footsteps Of Bruce Chatwin

Review preview for Nomad: In The Footsteps Of Bruce Chatwin

Everything comes to life under Herzog's gaze, but rarely has he revealed so much of himself directly.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
When writer Bruce Chatwin was dying of AIDS, his friend Werner Herzog made a final visit. As a parting gift, Chatwin gave Herzog his rucksack. Thirty years later, Herzog sets out on his own journey, inspired by Chatwin’s passion for the nomadic life.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Werner Herzog)

Full review

UK premiere

Selfie

Documentary dealing with police violence and the long shadow the Mafia still casts over today’s Italy. Two adolescent Neapolitans portray themselves and their surroundings with their smartphones.

(Country: France, Italy; Year: 2019; Director: Agostino Ferrente; Writer: Agostino Ferrente; Stars: Pietro Orlando)

UK premiere

The Tide (La Marea)

Essay documentary charting a young Mexican man.

(Country: Mexico, US; Year: 2018; Director: Miguel Novelo; Stars: Jorge Carbajal)

European premiere

La Vida En Común

Charting the lives of an indigenous community in Argentina.

(Country: Argentina, France; Year: 2019; Director: Ezequiel Yanco; Writer: Ezequiel Yanco; Stars: Uriel Alcaraz, Brian Alcaraz, Yuliana Alcaraz, Rodrigo Amitrano, Angel Baigorria, Luana Baigorria, Mabel Baigorria, Isaías Barroso, Jeremías Barroso, Catalina Perez, Yamila Rodriguez, Uriel Alcaraz, Brian Alcaraz, Yuliana Alcaraz, Rodrigo Amitrano)

UK premiere

War Of Art

Documentary charts a group of Western artists who are invited to North Korea.

(Country: Norway, Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Tommy Gulliksen)

UK premiere

Wild Berries

Documentary of a foraging boy.

(Country: Hungary, Portugal, Romania; Year: 2018; Director: Marianna Vas, Hedda Bednarszky, Romulus Balazs)

International premiere

A Wild Stream

Documentary about the lives of a pair of men who live on a seemingly deserted beach.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2018; Director: Nuria Ibañez Castañeda)

UK premiere