Now in its 33rd year, Sheffield DocFest has evolved into the UK’s biggest documentary film festival, offering world premieres, networking opportunities, and the chance to learn from the best in the business. We chat to creative director Raul Niño Zambrano about the philosophy of the festival, how non-fiction storytelling is evolving, and what British Cinematographer readers should keep an eye out for.
For those who haven’t stopped by Sheffield DocFest yet, what is the philosophy of the festival and how has it grown and developed over the years?
We have been around a while – this will be our 33rd edition – and we are the UK’s leading documentary festival. Our success comes from not only showing films, but also from our initiatives such as the MeetMarket, which is where people can come and try to find co-producers, co-financing, distribution, a sales agent. So we’ve been evolving with these two big pillars in mind.
I think that the DNA of DocFest is that we are a festival that has always been very open to all formats. We show films and shorts, but we also show the first episodes of television series, podcasts and more. We’re a renowned, prestigious festival and people really want to launch their projects here. In our competitions, most are world premieres, so it will be the very, very first chance to watch them. Then we have a large amount of industry talks. We try to address as many people and as many players in the industry as possible, not just regionally and nationally, but internationally. We are a melting pot of all things documentary, I would say.
Obviously our audience features many directors of photography and behind-the-camera talent – what should they keep an eye out for?
There are several Masterclasses that are well worth checking out. Andrea Arnold will be giving a Masterclass which is very interesting. Most of her work is actually in fiction, but she has also done some documentary work. When we were talking with her she was interested in exploring how, although you may think that these are very opposite worlds, they both involve a lot of planning and require a lot of research, a lot of writing as well, so it will be very inspiring to listen to her.
Another Masterclass that is worth mentioning is with Maite Alberdi. She’s a filmmaker from Chile who has been nominated for Oscars for her documentaries, with her last film premiering at the Berlinale, which is called A Child of My Own. That film tells a stranger-than-fiction story of a woman that was faking her pregnancy and even stole a baby at some point. With his fascination, Alberdi created a world on its own, a film within a film, and recreated scenes with actors and impressive setups and stunning mise-en-scene, but it remains very ‘documentary’ at the same time. It’s a mix-up of the two genres, but she paid a lot of attention to the lights, editing, music, because she wanted to create this world within her film. So that is definitely one to keep an eye on.
One other highlight that is doing amazingly well with audiences is The Archivist, which is part of our Guest of Honour programme. It focuses on Doc Rowe, who has documented folk traditions for several decades throughout the UK, and you see how traditions evolve through his work. The film is really successful in the way it explores the importance of rituals and traditions for communities, and how this is put under threat by technology and modern society. Of interest to people behind the camera, there was a big archive to look after for the filmmakers, and they were very methodical in their approach.
The last one I would recommend is Lesbian Lines, which is in our Main Competition. It’s a project from Ireland that revisits and re-embraces the queer archives in the country. It’s about a telephone line that was made available for women to call in the ‘70s, at a time when that might have been the only place you could go to share what you are going through, for help with coming out – this old-school telephone line was helping them a lot to move forward. So they spotlight these women that made calls at the time, as well as some people that were actually answering the calls, and they also did a couple of reenactments – it’s a very fluid way to revisit archives and oral history, but to do so beautifully. It works wonderfully on the big screen; the cinematography is very well taken care of, as is the editing and music. That’s something that we are seeing a lot: revisiting archives with great care and in a way that elevates what they can offer.
The growth of XR documentary storytelling sees DocFest have its own Alternate Realities strand – why do you think this has become such a focus for so many creatives, and how do you see that developing further in the future?
At DocFest, we are seeing that artists are becoming more and more open to, and increasingly being inspired by, different formats. When we started, for example, with our podcast pitch, a lot of filmmakers went there and realised, ‘Oh, I have a lot of audio, I have extra content that I haven’t used in my film – maybe I could turn it into a podcast?’ It’s also happened the other way around, with documentary podcasters beginning to think about how they can bring visual elements into their work.
A similar process happens with XR storytelling. A lot of people that go to DocFest realise that it’s a really interesting way to explore a certain topic or to try a new method of storytelling. So our multi-disciplinary focus is really important. A big focus of our XR strand is on gaming, but even within that sphere, you are starting to see a growing influence of filmmaking. For example, Grand Theft Hamlet saw creatives make a film within the Grand Theft Auto game – they will be coming to DocFest to show a work in progress for the coming years. There is also a project called Elsewhere in India, which is using real BFI archive footage to bring film content to new audiences and through new media.
I think storytelling is evolving, and we need to embrace it – that’s what DocFest is great at, is exploring how documentary can get involved in different things. This approach is always multiplying – there is always a new surprise, and I find it really exciting.
As always, a lot of films at Sheffield DocFest tackle really important topics. Have you noticed any key trends in terms of subject areas covered, and how important is it to spotlight films that do dive into these topics?
Well, this year we got more entries than ever – we had more than 2,900 submissions. We also have quite a big team watching the films, a wide range of advisers watching all over the world with different expertise and perspectives, so that definitely helps us a lot. And the way we always work is that everybody watches the films and then we have discussions, sometimes one-on-one, sometimes in small groups, and that’s where we start noticing topics.
Activism is definitely a big focus this year, as well as the climate and environment, and music. Once we notice trends, we do discuss how we can mirror our selection of films with the themes that are submitted – and that’s when we start filtering a bit more.
The focus on activism wasn’t just coming from one area of the world, but from a lot of places – Nigeria, the UK, Bulgaria, Latin America – and it wasn’t just observational, following an activist or group of activists as they go about their work. There is more and more of an effort to make a creative story about the topic. So style and editing and music are playing a bigger role, which was beautiful to see.
A good example is A City in the Forest, which follows a group of activists across more than 10 years as they try to stop a police centre being built in a forest outside Atlanta. Unfortunately, the centre was still built, but the film explores what the activism does for the community, how they engage with each other. And in the film, there is always something interesting happening in the sound, in the editing, in the colour, so that became really interesting. Our opening film, We, the Hated, following Just Stop Oil over several years, is also very interesting in terms of editing and in terms of providing more context and opening up dialogue.
The other thing that was really striking in our discussions was that a lot of the resistance, co-resistance and activist films were focused on art. We have a beautiful film called Hope Is a Word, a co-production between Nigeria and Norway, which is about some boys in Nigeria that are using poetry in order to bring attention to oil spillages from the big oil companies there. We have a film from South Africa, Notes from the Underground, which dives into how hip-hop is used as a tool for resistance. We have Matininó from Puerto Rico, which follows how women who experienced sexual assault turned their stories into a theatrical performance. A key message in so many films is how art can really connect more, create more empathy, and how storytelling can properly move people.
How is DocFest supporting future generations of filmmakers?
Throughout the festival, we have our Pitches – the First Cut Pitch and the Whickers Film & TV Pitch, as examples. Most of those are for emerging artists, providing an opportunity for them to pitch their projects and try to find funding and partners. We have our Amplify programme for producers, which is more about networking and meeting peers. Last year, we started a programme for queer filmmakers, the Queer Realities Director’s Lab, in which we follow 10 queer filmmakers working on a project. They don’t have to deliver anything – it’s just about helping them to build their decks and build confidence in their projects and build their networks.
Then, we have our shorts programmes. A lot of shorts filmmakers are first-time filmmakers, as shorts are far more accessible, and what you see is that because they are part of the shorts programme, these filmmakers can go to industry events and meet new people. I always love when you see people who came through our shorts programmes then coming back with feature-length films.
This is the fourth year of our Filmmaker Challenge, which tasks participants to make a film in 48 hours. Not only are we now doing this in Sheffield, but also in other regions, and that’s really exciting because it really puts you in the spotlight and provides opportunities for mentoring and guidance. It helps filmmakers to create a momentum, and after they make their films we show them at DocFest and they can go to industry events as well.
Finally, we also started a special programme for families and young people, which is more geared towards audiences, but I think it’s important to inspire future generations of filmmakers. There’s something about getting people excited about documentaries and filmmaking at an early age that could blossom into a lifelong passion, and it instills DocFest as a fun and interesting place.
Finally, this is a huge festival that’s taking place outside of the usual big cities that play host to so many screen events – how important is that, to have such a leading event outside of the ‘London bubble’?
I think we are the evidence that it is possible, and that it’s also very needed. There’s something interesting that happens when you arrive at Sheffield Train Station – people are able to switch off and just focus on the festival. Everything is calmer, everything is within walking distance. A lot of people say that we’re a warm festival, and I think we’re very accessible. We have shown that it is possible to make a big event that is not out of proportion. We are six days long, we have an industry section, our competitions only have eight films.
The city has also really embraced the festival. You see flags and people with lanyards everywhere throughout the event. And international guests always talk about how welcome they feel. We can do so much more in so many more regions. Obviously, it all depends on resources, but we have shown that it is possible to have an event like this outside of the biggest cities, and that you don’t have to have a massive programme to attract an international audience.
