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Festival coverage

Sheffield DocFest

12 June – 17 May 2024

Sheffield DocFest's theme this year is Reflections on Reality. It will feature 48 World Premieres, 14 International Premieres, 17 European Premieres, and 29 UK Premieres and run from June 12 to 17

Other years (14)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Daughters
    Review preview for Daughters

    For the most part the film comes across as a celebration of this moment as a light in the darkness, but it will likely leave some viewers additionally uncomfortable.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Four young girls prepare for a special Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers, as part of a unique fatherhood program in a Washington, DC, jail.
  • No Other Land
    Review preview for No Other Land

    No Other Land brings humanity and particularity to a topic that is too often discussed in the abstract.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli authorities and the unlikely alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.
  • Nocturnes
    Review preview for Nocturnes

    By night, Shreyank Nanjappa’s inspired sound design captures the furious beating of wings and, layered on top of them, the shuffling and chirrupping and all the curious calls of the moths as they rush in to land.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    In the dense forests of the Eastern Himalayas, moths are whispering something to us. In the dark of night, two curious observers shine a light on this secret universe.
  • The Battle For Laikipia
    Review preview for The Battle For Laikipia

    The documentarians invested several years in the project and it pays off in this impressively balanced assessment of a conflict over land that has been exacerbated by climate change and drought.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    Unresolved historical injustices and climate change raise the stakes in a generations-old conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Laikipia, Kenya, a wildlife conservation haven.
  • Blur: To The End
    Review preview for Blur: To The End

    It's entertaining enough if you're familiar.

    Andrew Robertson · 3 out of 5
    Portrait of the band as they prepare an album.
  • Agent Of Happiness
    Review preview for Agent Of Happiness

    As the surveys continue, different ideas of happiness emerge along with moments of shared humanity.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    Amber is one of the many agents working for the Bhutanese government to measure people’s happiness levels among the remote Himalayan mountains. But will he find his own along the way?
  • The Flats
    Review preview for The Flats

    The Flats gives voice to people who have lived most of their lives feeling silenced, but it’s all the little details it captures in passing that speak loudest.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    Joe and his Belfast neighbors reenact childhood memories from the violent Troubles era in their Catholic district, exploring the collective experiences that shaped their lives and community.
  • Strike: An Uncivil War
    Review preview for Strike: An Uncivil War

    Powerful and thorough.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    The Battle of Orgreave, recounted by those who lived through it, is contextualised through the history of the British mining union and a government that was hell-bent on breaking it.
  • The Boy And The Suit Of Lights
    Review preview for The Boy And The Suit Of Lights

    De Reyes film celebrates family bonds, while also noting how those ties can bind youngsters’ ambitions.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    Portrait of a young boy who dreams of becoming a bullfighter.
  • Devo
    Review preview for Devo

    Most impressive for distilling mountains of archival footage, with the help of the trusty talking-head interview.

    Jeremy Mathews · 3.5 out of 5
    Born in response to the Kent State massacre, new wave band Devo took their concept of "de-evolution" from cult following to near–rock star status with groundbreaking 1980 hit Whip It while preaching an urgent social commentary.

A–Z of Sheffield DocFest 2024 reviews

Features

  • Your damsel is in another castle
    Mimi Wilcox on Michaela Madden, Patty Hearst, Stockholm Syndrome and Bad Hostage
  • All or nothing
    Clair Titley on Nasubi, Denpa Shōnen and making The Contestant
  • Measuring happiness
    Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó on their latest documentary collaboration
  • Child's-eye view of a warzone
    Sareen Hairabedian on shooting her coming-of-age documentary My Sweet Land in the shadow of conflict
  • Teen spirit
    Inma de Reyes on capturing a youngster's bullfighting ambition in The Boy And The Suit Of Lights
  • Ghosts in the machine
    Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck on exploring AI 'life after death' in Eternal You

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