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Sheffield DocFest · 2019

Sheffield DocFest 2019

Doc/Love

Programme

21 films · 6 reviews

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About Love

The household dynamics of three generations of a family are explored as they prepare for a wedding.

(Year: 2019; Director: Archana Atul Phadke)

World premiere

After The Silence

A man forced to leave his country after a homophobic attack, opens up about his life.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2018; Director: Sonam Larcin; Writer: Sonam Larcin)

UK premiere

Alone Together

Found footage reveals whispering women evoking the girlfriend experience.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2018; Director: Guus Voorham)

UK premiere

Dive: Rituals In Water

Review preview for Dive: Rituals In Water

The sight of a four month old child standing upright on Snorri's hand, raised up above the water, will simultaneously awe and terrify many parents.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Portrait of Icelandic pioneer Snorri Magnusson, who has been patiently teaching babies to float and paddle for over 25 years.

(Country: Iceland; Year: 2019; Director: Elín Hansdóttir, Hanna Björk Valsdóttir, Anna Rún Tryggvadóttir)

Full review

UK premiere

Don't Be A Dick About It

A pair of teenage brothers are filmed by their director cousin.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Ben Mullinkosson)

UK premiere

In Our Paradise

A story shot across different countries considering how youngsters find their place in the world.

(Country: France; Year: 2018; Director: Claudia Marschal; Writer: Claudia Marschal, Ian Simpson)

World premiere

Kabul, City In The Wind

The city Kabul, seen through the daily details of two kids and a bus driver.

(Country: Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Afghanistan; Year: 2018; Director: Aboozar Amini)

UK premiere

Los Reyes

Review preview for Los Reyes

It's the sort of film that humans and dogs can watch together, appreciating many of the same things.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Documentary capturing the microcosm that surrounds a couple of street dogs that live in a skatepark.

(Country: Chile, Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Iván Osnovikoff, Bettina Perut)

Full review

UK premiere

The Magic Life Of V

Haunted by childhood traumas, Veera is trying to become more independent through live roleplaying. As she guides herself and her mentally-challenged brother through worlds of multiple roles and identities, witches and wizards, she finds the courage to face the demons of her own past and her abusive father's legacy.

(Country: Finland, Denmark, Bulgaria; Year: 2019; Director: Tonislav Hristov)

UK premiere

Mother

Review preview for Mother

There is something extremely sad about the collision of two women with each other.

Mateusz Tarwacki · 2.5 out of 5
In Thailand, Pomm takes care of Europeans with Alzheimer’s. Separated from her children, she helps Elisabeth during the final stages of her life, as a new patient arrives from Switzerland.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2019; Director: Kristof Bilsen; Writer: Kristof Bilsen, Xan Márquez Caneda)

Full review

World premiere

The Pit (Die Grube)

(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Hristiana Raykova)

UK premiere

Playhouse

A couple visit a holiday home, where they re-enact scenes of powerplay and desire from classic films.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2019; Director: Adda Elling)

World premiere

Queen Of Lapa

Review preview for Queen Of Lapa

Taking its time and drifting lightly from one scene to another, this beautifully composed film really gets under the skin of its subjects, who seem marvellously at ease with the camera.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A proud transgender sex worker since the age of 11, Luana Muniz, now 59, shapes a new reality in her 'hostel' by housing a new generation of transgender sex workers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Theodore Collatos, Carolina Monnerat; Stars: Luana Muniz, Luana Muniz)

Full review

International premiere

Romantic Comedy

Musician and writer Elizabeth Sankey investigates the past, present and future of romantic comedies, assisted by a chorus of critics, actors and filmmakers.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Elizabeth Sankey; Writer: Elizabeth Sankey; Stars: Jessica Barden, Cameron Cook, Anne T Donahue)

UK premiere

Seahorse (Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth)

Review preview for Seahorse

Finlay has a good eye for the details that help us connect to people and places.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Charts a transgender man’s path to parenthood after he decides to carry his child himself. The pregnancy prompts an unexpected and profound reckoning with conventions of masculinity, self-definition and biology.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Jeanie Finlay)

Full review See: Interview with Freddy McConnell about Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth

European premiere

Snap

Considering Snapchat's role in society.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2019; Director: Felipe Elgueta, Ananké Pereira)

UK premiere

Swarm Season

In Hawaii, 10-year-old Manu and her mother collect wild, endangered bees in order to breed disease-resistant colonies. Her father is protesting on the sacred mountain Mauna Kea against the establishment of a gigantic telescope.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Sarah Christman)

UK premiere

Talking About Adultery

What does it mean to live in a committed relationship?

(Country: Czech Republic, US; Year: 2019; Director: Bara Jichova Tyson; Writer: Alyse Ardell Spiegel, Bara Jichova Tyson, Bara Jichova Tyson; Stars: Iva Gocheva, Becca Lewis, Caleb Hammond, Iva Gocheva, Becca Lewis, Caleb Hammond)

World premiere

This Is A Film About Me

A portrait of regret.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2019; Director: Alexis Delgado Burdalo; Writer: Alexis Delgado Burdalo, Samuel M. Delgado, Manuel Muñoz Rivas; Stars: Renata Soskey, Renata Soskey)

UK premiere

The Vibrant Village

Review preview for The Vibrant Village

Jurkiewicz drinks in all the life the village offers, almost imperceptibly soldering her own connections between the external environments and the internal, the women and the men, the traditional and the unexpected.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
In a quiet Hungarian village, men gather to swill beer at the bar. Meanwhile the women are busy at work manufacturing something unexpected.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2019; Director: Weronika Jurkiewicz)

Full review

World premiere

Waiting For The Carnival (Estou Me Guardando Para Quando O Carnaval Chegar)

A documentary film about the Brazilian town of Toritama, the self-proclaimed capital of jeans. The workers of the city’s self-managed small businesses only get one real break from their self-exploiting lives in the textile business - the annual carnival.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Marcelo Gomes)

UK premiere