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Sheffield DocFest · 2019

Sheffield DocFest 2019

Doc/Think

Programme

27 films · 10 reviews

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America

Interweaving archive silent film footage with ethereal monochrome visions, America reframes the trajectory of Black cinema, and sees the triumphant figures of history connecting and resonating into the future.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Garrett Bradley)

UK premiere

Anthropocene: The Human Epoch

Review preview for Anthropocene: The Human Epoch

Having delivered shock and awe in the first half on the film, Baichwal turns in the second half to projects that are small but growing fast, new approaches to old ways of doing things.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
The filmmakers have traversed the globe to document the evidence and experience of human planetary domination.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2018; Director: Jennifer Baichwal, Edward Burtynsky, Nicholas de Pencier, Nicholas de Pencier; Writer: Jennifer Baichwal; Stars: Alicia Vikander, Alicia Vikander)

Full review

UK premiere

The Black Tree (El Arbol Negro)

The legends of the Qom mix with their threatened present in this documentary.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2018; Director: Máximo Ciambella, Damián Coluccio)

International premiere

Body All Eyes

This 8mm split-screen film explores the symmetry in the shapes that take flight and the bodies that remain.

(Country: Finland; Year: 2018; Director: Saara Ekström)

World premiere

The Border Fence

The story of the Austrian's planned construction of a border fence... and what happened afterwards.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2018; Director: Nikolaus Geyrhalter; Writer: Nikolaus Geyrhalter)

UK premiere

Curupira, Creature Of The Woods

The Tauary, in the Amazon, reflect on myths and their place in the contemporary world.

(Country: France, Mexico, Brazil; Year: 2018; Director: Felix Blume; Stars: Alexia Samara Celestino Gomes, Vitor Ventura Da Silva, Maria Ana Vitor, Edirce Cauper Firmo, Diogo Gomes Da Silva, Antonio Francisco Sevalho Celestino, Paulo Roberto Leocadio Lira, Marineide Leocadio Da Silva, Antonio José Parente Nogueira, Maria Eduarda Celestino Gomes, David Lucas Fabricio Da Silva, Maria De Fatima Servalho Celestino, Janilson Carvalho Da Cruz, Francisco De Jesus Silva Dias, Wellington Navarro Firmo)

UK premiere

Danny

After being diagnosed with leukaemia in 1993, Danny picks up a camcorder and begins to create a film, with himself as the central character.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2019; Director: Aaron Zeghers, Lewis Bennett)

European premiere

Diary Of Cattle

Review preview for Diary Of Cattle

A concise and sharp illustration of one of the many vicious cycles we have entered into as we continue our dubious husbandry of the planet.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A day in the life of cows grazing at a landfill site.

(Country: Indonesia; Year: 2019; Director: Lidia Afrilita, David Darmadi)

Full review

UK premiere

Dramatic And Mild

Considering the reaction of visitors and guard in the presence of Vasiliy Kandisnky's painting Dramatic And Mild.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2018; Director: Nastia Korkia)

UK premiere

The Edge Of Democracy

Review preview for The Edge Of Democracy

There's a lot of ground to cover, but Costa keeps a strong grip on the material

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Consideration of post-dictatorship politics and the resurgent right in Brazil.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2019; Director: Petra Costa; Stars: Dilma Rousseff, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Marisa Letícia Lula da Silva, Sergio Moro, Nestor Cerveró, Paulo Roberto Costa, Marcelo Odebrecht, Lindbergh Farias, Jovair Arantes, José Eduardo Cardozo, Eduardo Cunha, Carlos Henrique Gaguim, Paulo Maluf, Roberto Requião, Jean Wyllys)

Full review

UK premiere

The Great Hack

Data, arguably the world’s most valuable asset, is being weaponized to wage cultural and political wars. The dark world of data exploitation is uncovered through the unpredictable personal journeys of players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data story.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim; Writer: Karim Amer)

European premiere

Hi, AI (Hi, A.I.)

Looking at the ways we live alongside artificial intelligence.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Isabella Willinger)

UK premiere

Hunting For Hedonia

Exploring the technology of Deep Brain Stimulation and its impact on our sense of self.

(Country: Denmark, Brazil, Germany, United States, United Kingdom; Year: 2019; Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær; Writer: Lone Frank, Pernille Rose Grønkjær)

UK premiere

In Search...

Review preview for In Search...

The very intimate, personal nature of this film imbues with authority and sensitivity.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Documentary about the lasting trauma of female genital mutilation and the filmmaker's reconstructive journey.

(Country: Germany, Belgium, Kenya; Year: 2018; Director: Beryl Magoko; Writer: Beryl Magoko; Stars: Gati Magoko, Jule Katinka Cramer, Beryl Magoko, Gati Magoko, Jule Katinka Cramer, Beryl Magoko)

Full review

UK premiere

A Love Song For Latasha

Review preview for A Love Song For Latasha

Fluid and ever-changing, it evokes an immediate, fluid presence with none of the formality of death or history.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A dreamlike conversation with the past and the present, this film reimagines a more nuanced narrative of Latasha Harlins by excavating intimate memories shared by her cousin and best friend.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Sophia Nahli Allison)

Full review

International premiere

Misericórdia

This portrait of the Itaparica Island community in Brazil explores the space they inhabit through their living and dreaming, where nature prevails.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Xavier Marrades; Writer: Antoine Jaccoud, Pierre Pascal Rossi)

European premiere

'Now Something Is Slowly Changing'

In the growing world of life coaching, mindfulness and efforts towards spiritual transformation, how can you measure change, and what does personal development look like?

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2018; Director: Menna Laura Meijer)

UK premiere

Property

Review preview for Property

Lintner is good at gaining access to his fellow residents, though often assumes the viewer has the same understanding of these people as he does, offering what is a surface-level obso-doc on their interactions.

Sunil Chauhan · 3 out of 5
A look at the residents of a Berlin apartment building designated for redevelopment.

(Country: Italy, Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Matthias Lintner)

Full review

UK premiere

Push

Review preview for Push

Push skips along briskly, making light, incisive work of an area that’s all too often mystified, but it feels like a pilot, rather than a self-contained work.

Sunil Chauhan · 3.5 out of 5
An international look at the global housing crisis in our cities.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2019; Director: Fredrik Gertten)

Full review

UK premiere

The Rest

A film about refugees who fled war and persecution and arrived in Europe, the world’s bastion of human rights, yet have not found the safe havens of their dreams.

(Country: China, Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Ai Weiwei)

UK premiere

Shelter: Farewell To Eden

Review preview for Shelter: Farewell To Eden

You get the sense Masi wants Pepsi to be a pivot for the issues engulfing modern Europe, but in the process he often loses sight of her own story.

Sunil Chauhan · 3 out of 5
The thoughts and life of Pepsi, a transgender woman born in the Philippines, now living in Italy.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2019; Director: Enrico Masi; Writer: Enrico Masi, Stefano Migliore; Stars: Pepsi, Catherine Wihtol de Wenden, Gabriel James Patiag)

Full review

UK premiere

Solidarity

Review preview for Solidarity

It’s when she interviews female members from activist groups and unions who formed relationships with undercover police that Solidarity acquires a deeper heft, its hitherto simmering threads now boiling to the surface.

Sunil Chauhan · 3 out of 5
Solidarity looks at blacklisting in the construction industry where thousands of workers were denied employment for involvement in trade union activism and workplace disputes.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Lucy Parker)

Full review

World premiere

Terraria

A man and his connection to reptiles.

(Country: Finland; Year: 2019; Director: Hanna Hovitie)

World premiere

That Which Does Not Kill

Examining the traumatic impact of rape.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2019; Director: Alexe Poukine; Writer: Ada Leiris)

UK premiere

Untouchable

The inside story of the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein reveals how, over decades, he acquires and protects his power even as scandal threatens to engulf him. Former colleagues and accusers detail the method and consequences of his alleged abuse, hoping for justice and to inspire change.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Ursula Macfarlane)

European premiere

War In The Blood

Follows two patients through ground breaking ‘first in-human’ trials for a treatment described as the beginning of the end of cancer.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Arthur Cary)

World premiere

What We Left Unfinished

Review preview for What We Left Unfinished

The stories are astonishing.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Story of five unfinished fiction films from Communist-era Afghanistan.

(Country: Afghanistan, Qatar, United States; Year: 2019; Director: Mariam Ghani; Stars: Noor Hashim Abir, Adela Adim, Latif Ahmadi, Asadollah Aram, Zarghuna Aram, Nemat Arash, Shirindad Dakkoi, Said Miran Farhad, Qader Farokh, Ferida, Farid Feyz, Jawanshir Haidari, Sultan Istalefi, Wali Latifi, Lina)

Full review

UK premiere