Sheffield Doc/Fest '19 - Documentary Weekly's Best Bits

The curtain has closed on yet another successful edition of Britain’s most important documentary festival. This year, Documentary Weekly was among the 25,000 festival-goers who made their way through the streets of Sheffield, with press access to the 150+ films on show and the chance to meet with some our favourite filmmakers. Here’s a look at the week’s best bits along with the festival’s ultimate selection of award-winners.

Unbeknownst to most, one of the week’s biggest global news stories broke from Sheffield Doc/Fest’s very own ‘Alternate Realities’ exhibit when artists Bill Posters and Daniel Howe’s ‘deepfake’ video of Mark Zuckerberg surfaced online via Instagram. The video has caused major controversy since going viral, renewing the debate on Facebook’s responsibility towards fake news by seeming to credit the company’s success to a sinister data-gathering organisation.

Diego Maradonna

While the disturbing video captured the mainstream media’s scrutiny, documentary enthusisasts’ attention will have been firmly focused on famed biopic director Asif Kapadia’s ‘Diego Maradonna’, who’s UK premiere opened the week’s festivities. A roller-coaster ride of immersive archival footage set to a brilliantly crafted narrative, the film takes particular interest in Maradonna’s career at SSC Napoli – a city where the devil is said to require bodyguards. There, Maradonna became bigger than god himself and a sordid tale of talent, betrayal, corruption, and ultimately redemption follows. ‘Diego Maradonna’ was released in cinemas on the 14th of June – go see it this weekend!

Mother

Next, we sought out director Kristof Bilsen to talk about his second feature, ‘Mother’, which has been turning heads on the documentary circuit and which Documentary Weekly was lucky enough to view an advance screening of. The film has since been awarded a Special Mention for the Sheffield International Award. You can watch our interview in full here or in the player below.

Following the loss of his own mother, Kristof became interested in a small alzheimer’s care centre in Thailand that goes beyond basic healthcare to provide patients with the emotional support and love that they need from their environment.

There, Kristof met the carer Pomm and in his own words, “the film started out being about alzheimer’s but gradually moved up towards the subject of Motherhood”. This is a deeply intimate film that takes a long and unwavering gaze at the heartbreaking difficulties of motherhood across the world.

The film is yet to be given a release date.

Searching Eva

‘Searching Eva’ was another film that caught our eye long before we were able to meet director Pia Hellenthal in-person at Sheffield Doc/Fest. First making waves online after its premiere at SXSW earlier this year, it follows the life and times of the extraordinary Eva Collé.

Eva is a 25 year-old Italian poet, recovering drug addict, model, sex worker, Berliner, feminist, pet-owner and artist who seemingly declared privacy an outdated concept at the age 14 when she first started blogging.

According to Eva, “the reason they made a movie out of my life is that one day I’m shooting up in a public toilet and the next I’m bleaching my teeth in a jacuzzi”.

As a fly on the wall in Eva’s psychedelic, melancholic and dramatic day-to-day life, the viewer is made to reconsider the concept of identity and challenge society’s unbending will to make young women conform to predetermined ideals. Just like Eva herself, the film is impossible to put in a box, label or categorise in any way, which makes it a beautiful oddity of the documentary genre.

We had the opportunity to discuss the making of the film with director Pia Hellenthal, watch it below. The film is yet to be given a release date.

About Love

Making its world premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest, and marking director Archana Phadke’s debut, was the touching family portrait ‘About Love’.

Three generations of Archana’s family live and work together in South Mumbai and as they prepare for a family wedding, Archana decides to pick up a camera and observe the shifting and at times saddening, but often hilarious, household dynamics as they unfold around her.

With heartwarmingly honest testimonials around the family kitchen or on the terrace of the apartment, Archana triggers some soul-searching among the women in her family who wonder how they have been able to tolerate their husbands for so long.

This is a film that unexpectedly drew on our heartstrings and struck a chord with the audience who were inevitably reminded of their own families. The film was met with a deserving ovation at the time and has since gone on to win Sheffield’s New Talent Award – definitely one to keep an eye on.

The film is yet to be given a release date.

About Love’ will be released later this year

Other fascinating films that stood out to us were ‘3OHA’, Clayton Vomero’s Kaleidoscopic study of the explosion of Russian youth culture in the 90s set to haunting electronic renditions of Tchaikovksy’s Swan Lake; ‘Hunting for Hedonia’ an unflinching look at the unbelievable world of Deep Brain Stimulation and the impossible ethical questions it will soon be putting to society; and Elizabeth Sankey’s critical love letter, ‘Romantic Comedy’, to the film genre that continues to define hers and countless other women’s lives.

After a week filled with mind-blowing, heart-breaking and inspirational films, we’re already counting down the days to next year’s festival. A huge thank you the press relations team for their help as well as Oriana Hollis for managing all our filming and content capture during our stay.

Sheffield Doc/Fest Jury Awards

GRAND JURY AWARD

WINNER: Midnight Family directed by Luke Lorentzen

SPECIAL MENTION: For Sama directed by Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts and Midnight Traveler directed by Hassan Fazili

INTERNATIONAL AWARD

WINNER: Earth directed by Nikolaus Geyrhalter

SPECIAL MENTION: MOTHER directed by Kristof Bilsen

ART AWARD SUPPORTED BY MUBI

WINNER: No Data Plan directed by Miko Revereza

TIM HETHERINGTON AWARD SUPPORTED BY DOGWOOF

WINNER: One Child Nation directed by Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang

NEW TALENT AWARD