Sheffield DocFest announces the World Premiere of Kim Hopkins’ Still Pushing Pineapples to open this year’s festival on 18 June 2025 at Sheffield’s Showroom Cinema. Hopkins returns to DocFest following her 2022 Audience Award for A Bunch of Amateurs.
Still Pushing Pineapples offers audiences a melancholy yet heartfelt look into the story of Dene Michael, the former singer of Black Lace and pop band behind the novelty Brit party favourite ‘Agadoo’. The film follows the lead singer’s journey on the road with his aging mother and a partner, as he aims for a comeback.
Director, producer and cinematographer Kim Hopkins directs and delves into the entertainment, working class culture, human connection, power of pop and the state of Britain in this funny, irreverent road movie.
Sheffield DocFest Managing Director, Mimi Poskitt, says: “Opening with Still Pushing Pineapples is a celebration of everything we champion at DocFest. This is a deeply intimate and beautifully crafted observation on working-class life rooted in Yorkshire, from celebrated Northern female filmmaker, Kim Hopkins. Her empathetic approach and careful unfolding of Dean’s story – particularly the bond between mother and son – reflect the very best of British documentary filmmaking.
Kim, alongside a strong, female-led team, has taken bold creative risks, and the results are truly remarkable.
There is nothing more wonderful than to see a project come to its full fruition and this gem of an idea first found its footing in our MeetMarket. From there, and with the backing of significant partners, is now on our screens – a testament to the strength and vibrancy of the UK’s documentary industry.”
Kim Hopkins, Director “What an absolute honour to open Sheffield Doc Fest with our latest feature documentary Still Pushing Pineapples. The film centres on Dene Michael, an original member of mega popular, novelty pop band Black Lace of Agadoo fame. The film asks profound questions about happiness, survival, and the indifference of a country leaving many behind, whilst crafting an ode to those who persevere despite adversity. When Black Lace hit Top of the Pops in the 80s, a glib DJ remarked: “Don’t you always wonder who is in that fruit?”—referring to the giant dancing fruit backing-singers. I did wonder if Dene had nightmares about having turned into a giant pineapple. Had the strange fruit that fed him, also devoured him? Through his four-decade long career in an industry that’d forced him to smile 45,000 times, Dene—though now a pineapple—never lost his humanity, his kindness, his hope. Still Pushing Pineapples explores the resilience and humanity of Dene, who embodies the spirit of ordinary working-class people amid a crumbling industrial disorder.”
Margareta Szabo, Producer “We are over the moon that Still Pushing Pineapples is opening Sheffield DocFest! It is a festival close to our hearts, and even more special because we are proudly based here in the North of England. It is not every day you find the perfect mix of an untold story, wonderful characters and a subject that somehow feels both timely and timeless, but Still Pushing Pineapples manages just that. I have big hopes for this film. It has been an absolute joy to make, pulling together a brilliant team from across the UK, from Yorkshire to Scotland and Wales, and working with partners and funders who keep backing bold, cinematic documentaries even when common sense would tell them to run for the hills.”
