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Sheffield DocFest · 2019

Sheffield DocFest 2019

Doc/Expose

Programme

22 films · 7 reviews

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Advocate

Review preview for Advocate

The very nature of Tsemel's passion for her projects makes this a compelling watch

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Biographical documentary about Lea Tsemel who defends Palestinians: from feminists to fundamentalists, from non-violent demonstrators to armed militants.

(Country: Israel, Canada, Switzerland; Year: 2019; Director: Rachel Leah Jones, Philippe Bellaïche)

Full review

UK premiere

Another Paradise

Fifty years ago the entire Creole population of the Chagos Islands was expelled by the British authorities. Now with the lease about to expire, the Chagossian exiles try to recover their homeland.

(Country: Belgium, France; Year: 2019; Director: Olivier Magis)

World premiere

Block

Six weeks before Brazil's heated 2018 presidential elections, striking truck drivers set up hundreds of blockades ... then the army arrives.

(Country: Brazil, France; Year: 2018; Director: Victoria Alvares, Quentin Delaroche)

International premiere

Border South

Mexico and the United States crack down on the trails north, forcing immigrants into more dangerous territory.

(Country: Mexico, US; Year: 2019; Director: Raul Paz Pastrana)

World premiere

Dark Suns (Soleils Noirs)

An epic investigation into countless murders in Mexico.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2018; Director: Julien Elie; Writer: Julien Elie)

UK premiere

For Sama

Review preview for For Sama

Al-Kateab and Watt capture not just the horror of war but the vibrancy of those attempting to carry on their lives as best they can against its backdrop.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A young woman's struggles with love, war and motherhood over the span of five years in Syria.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Waad al-Khateab, Edward Watts)

Full review See: Interview with Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts about For Sama

UK premiere

Ghosts Of Sugar Land

In Sugar Land, Texas, a group of young Muslim-American men ponder the disappearance of their friend, who is suspected of joining Islamic State.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Bassam Tariq; Writer: Thomas Niles, Bassam Tariq)

European premiere

Let It Burn

A vulnerable community is temporarily housed in the close quarters of a São Paulo hotel. This observational portrait explores the infatuations and clashes of its inhabitants.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Maíra Bühler)

UK premiere

Limbo

Former FARC guerilla Alex tells his story.

(Country: Colombia, US; Year: 2019; Director: Alexander L Fattal)

World premiere

Midnight Family

Review preview for Midnight Family

By keeping the camera in the back of the ambulance largely at a level above that of the various patients, Lorentzen ensures the film never becomes voyeuristic.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
In Mexico City's wealthiest neighborhoods, the Ochoa family runs a for-profit ambulance, competing with other unlicensed EMTs for patients in need of urgent care. In this cutthroat industry, they struggle to keep their financial needs from compromising the people in their care.

(Country: Mexico, US; Year: 2019; Director: Luke Lorentzen; Writer: Luke Lorentzen)

Full review

UK premiere

Midnight Traveler (Midnight Traveller)

Review preview for Midnight Traveler

Unlike a more conventional refugee documentary - shot by an outsider parachuting in - this is an intimate and ongoing study in which the family have complete agency, lending the film an additional ring of truth.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
When the Taliban puts a bounty on Afghan director Hassan Fazili’s head, he is forced to flee with his wife and two young daughters. Capturing their uncertain journey, Fazili shows firsthand the dangers facing refugees seeking asylum and the love shared between a family on the run.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Hassan Fazili)

Full review See: Midnight Traveler interview with Emelie Mahdavian and Su Kim

UK premiere

Mike Wallace Is Here

For over half a century, 60 Minutes’ fearsome newsman Mike Wallace went head-to-head with the world’s most influential figures. Relying exclusively on archival footage, the film interrogates the interrogator, tracking Mike’s storied career and troubled personal life while unpacking how broadcast journalism evolved to today’s precarious tipping point.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Avi Belkin)

European premiere

One Child Nation

Review preview for One Child Nation

Wang and Zhang are to be commended for fitting as much in as they do, even if it does mean the film roams about rather than having a single focus.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
After becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China’s one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Jialing Zhang and Nanfu Wang)

Full review

UK premiere

On The Inside Of A Military Dictatorship

Dissection of Myanmar’s disastrous transition to democracy.

(Country: Denmark, France; Year: 2019; Director: Karen Stokkendal Poulsen)

UK premiere

On The President's Orders

Review preview for On The President's Orders

James Jones and Olivier Sarbil's documentary is not the first film to explore this subject but it is remarkable in that it manages to tell the story from the point of view of police officers as well as addicts and civilian observers.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Expose of Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte's single-minded war on drugs.

(Country: US, UK, Philippines; Year: 2019; Director: James Jones, Olivier Sarbil)

Full review

UK premiere

Reason (Vivek)

How murder and mind control are being applied to systematically dismantle secular democracy in India.

(Country: India; Year: 2018; Director: Anand Patwardhan)

UK premiere

Reconstructing Utøya

Four young survivors of the killing spree that took place on the Norwegian island in the summer of 2011 confront their experiences in a performative reconstruction of events.

(Country: Sweden, Norway, Denmark; Year: 2018; Director: Carl Javér; Writer: Carl Javér, Fredrik Lange; Stars: Jenny Andersen, Rakel Mortensdatter Birkeli, Barbro Bugge, Sunniva Clark, Johanne Lovise Dikkanen, Vebjörn Karlsen Fosnes, Kaleb Haile, Torje Hansen, Harriet Amalie Hanssen, Marianne Hetland, Andreas Kjosmoen, Nicolas Steffensen Krane, Opal Mariell Lomgård, Torstein Myklebust, Ragnild Risnes)

UK premiere

Sandoval's Bullet

Isidro meanders through the rainforest as he and his brother recount the times he found himself face to face with death itself.

(Country: Ecuador; Year: 2019; Director: Jean-Jacques Martinod)

UK premiere

Sumercé

Follows veteran activist Don Eduardo, rising political leader César Pachón and agricultural educator Rosita as they fight their government’s decision to allow companies to carve up the campesinos birthright in rural Colombia.

(Country: Colombia; Year: 2019; Director: Victoria Solano)

World premiere

Tattooed Tears

Documentary going inside the maximum security juvenile correctional facility in Chino, California.

(Country: UK; Year: 1979; Director: Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill; Stars: Brian, Marcus, Pedro, Ronnie, Brian, Marcus, Pedro, Ronnie)

Tiny Souls

Review preview for Tiny Souls

The film is given an added poignancy because it has a specific personal connection to Naser.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Following lives of three siblings in a refugee camp as their time their stretches from weeks to years.

(Country: Jordan; Year: 2019; Director: Dina Naser)

Full review

UK premiere

Your Turn (Espero tua (re)volta)

Demonstrating, occupying schools across the country, self-organisation and police oppression, the camera always in the midst. Young Brasilians make history in this radical document.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Eliza Capai)

UK premiere