Sheffield Doc/Fest Announces Virtual Marketplace Selections in Confidence Boost to Doc Industry
Despite the global pandemic, Sheffield Doc/Fest will deliver on its promise to filmmakers and industry representatives, exceptionally holding its flagship pitching initiatives, MeetMarket (for features and series) and Alternate Realities Talent Market (for new media creatives), via virtual video-conferencing from the 8th to 10th of June 2020.
The selections news broke today, further strengthening hope across the documentary industry that opportunities for filmmakers and creators will continue to be upheld in the era of Covid-19. The reaction from industry representatives since the initial virtual marketplace announcement on March 31st has backed this up, with Doc/Fest’s Director of Marketplace & Talent Patrick Hurley today describing “an overwhelmingly positive response from our global network of industry decision makers since we announced the plan to run a virtual market”.
Buoyed by the positive feedback from Thessaloniki and CPH:DOX’s virtual experiences, Hurley goes on:
“Everyone remains keen to connect which is fantastic because this year’s selected projects are incredibly strong and exciting. […] These ideas for new documentaries are timely, creative, and presented by teams who we absolutely believe will deliver stunning results.”
Undeniably, the selection’s diversity of characters and stories leaps off the page, encompassing a total of thirty countries of production. Ranging from the law-breaking ordinary folk of the Extinction Rebellion movement, the two women fighting politics and patriarchy to re-open Nairobi’s dilapidated libraries through to the Russian villagers manufacturing sex-toys in the conservative south, these are stories begging to be told. In addition, a staggering 42% of the projects being carried through are led by first-time directors, proving that the time is still ripe for talented filmmakers to break through. You can read up on all the projects below.
Doc/Fest today also announced the funds, foundations, commissioning editors for broadcast and SVOD platforms, distributors, sales agents, festival programmers, NGOs, and co-production partners that have confirmed their participation and to whom the projects will be presented, which you can discover in full below. Among these are heavyweights ARTE France, BBC Storyville, The Guardian, Dogwoof, Canal+, ESPN, Journeyman Pictures, National Geographic, Taskovski Films, National Film Board of Canada, NEON and the Tate.
MEETMARKET
Organisations so-far confirmed to take part:
Altitude Film Sales, ARD/NDR, ARTE France, AVROTROS, BBC Storyville, Berlinale EFM, Blue Ice Docs, Boudica Films / Initialize, Canal+ / Movistar+, Cargo Film Sales, CAT&Docs, Catapult Film Fund, Chicken and Egg, Cinephil Distribution & Co-Productions, Cineteve, Compulsory Viewing, Creative Artists Agency, Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR), Deckert Distribution, DocSociety, Documentary Educational Resources, Dogwoof, ESPN, Field of Vision, First Hand Film Sales, Fremantle Media, Globo News, Icarus Films, IFP Independent Filmmaker Project, Impact Partners, Java Films, Journeyman Pictures, Kino Rebelde, KinoSmith, Kloos & Co. Medien / Rise and Shine World Sales, Little Dot Studios, Mediawan, Monoduo Films, National Geographic, NEON, New York Times, NHK, NRK, NTR, Open City Documentary Festival, ORF, Passion Pictures Films, Picturehouse Entertainment, POV, RBB/ARTE, SBS, Sideways Film, Sky, SomeSuch & Co, Submarine, Sundance, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute Fund, SVT, Sweet Spot Docs, Syndicado Film Sales, Taskovski Films, The Film Sales Company, The Guardian, The Party Film Sales, Together Films, TOPIC Media, Tribeca Film Institute, TRT World, Upside, VPRO, VRT, Whicker’s World Foundation, WideHouse, WRD, YesDocu / DBS, ZDF.
Selected Projects:
Against the Tide
India
Director: Sarvnik Kaur
Producer: Koval Bhatia
Climate change is scorching the world of two brothers. Alienated from the other, they're pushed in different directions for survival.
Airborne
India
Director/Producer: Shaunak Sen
A story of Delhi’s apocalyptic air is told through the black-kite, the dragonfly and their human entanglements. Two brothers, ex body-builders, open a healing-centre for kites in their garage, treating thousands every year. An ecologist wages an absurd battle to resettle dragonflies outside Delhi.
Are You Wearing You!?
Uganda, South Africa
Director: Nikissi Serumaga
Producers: Lesedi Oluko Moche, Patience Katushabe
A luxury designer returns home to make a streetwear brand from Ugandan cotton in Kampala, a mecca of 2nd hand clothes. But this innocuous crop is electric, and exploring home with fresh eyes unravels complex histories and uncertain futures for his young generation in a country on its knees.
Atomic Hope
Ireland
Director: Frankie Fenton
Producer: Kathryn Kennedy
A small number of unpopular pro-nuclear advocates have positioned themselves in a David and Goliath battle, to save the climate with a proven yet completely misunderstood and mythicized solution; carbon free nuclear power.
Bam Bam: The Story Of Sister Nancy
Canada
Director: Alison Duke
Producers: Alison Duke, Ngardy Conteh George
‘Bam Bam-The Story of Sister Nancy’ is a feature documentary that explores the wild story behind the making and prolific exploitation of the world’s most popular reggae anthem today.
Bella
United States
Directors: Bella Graves, Adam Dietrich
Producers: Susan Bedusa, Douglas Tirola
Bella’s life was irreparably changed at age 13 when a fake profile of her was posted online, leading to a series of pedophiles arriving at her doorstep with instructions to rape her. Ten years later, Bella investigates this online sexual assault and confronts the childhood friend who betrayed her.
Caring for Kathryn
United States
Director: Adam Isenberg
Producer: Senem Tüzen
Kathryn’s ALS has left her paralyzed and her family’s relations in tatters. Though despair finally overwhelms her, she holds on to see her daughter’s wedding.
Children Of The Mist
Vietnam
Director: HA LE Diem
Producers: Swann Dubus, TRAN Phuong Thao
In the misty mountains of North Vietnam, a teenage Hmong girl walks the thin line between childhood and becoming an adult. Over a period of two years, girls in her minority are forced to lose their innocence, discover the traps of seduction, or fight for their independence.
Don't Call Me Mad
United Kingdom, Germany
Director: Zora Kuettner
Producer: Loran Dunn
After uncovering a never-before-seen archive, a filmmaker revisits an idealistic, politically charged psychiatric trial her father led in the 90s. As father and daughter track down the last surviving patients, they face up to our progress in mental health care and are affronted by our shortcomings.
Dreamer
Azerbaijan, Czech Republic
Director: Imam Jabirowich Hasanow
Producer: Maria Ibrahimova
Mamed, a former football player from the remote village of Sheki, is dedicated to forming an all-girl football team. But in traditional Sheki, not everyone agrees that girls should play football.
Dreaming Walls
Belgium, France, Netherlands, Sweden
Director: Amélie van Elmbt
Producer: Hanne Phlypo
The New York Chelsea Hotel is being renovated into a luxury hotel. In the chaos of the construction, the remaining residents hold on and try to keep the bohemian spirit alive.
Drifting Images
Chile
Director: Nicolás Tabilo
Producer: Felipe Garrido
A documentary-essay that submerges us in a sensorial experience about love, forgiveness and the lack of communication between a son and his mother where secrets and painful childhood traumas from the past come to life through images from the present and the future.
Driver
United States
Director: Nesa Azimi
Producers: Elise McCave, Kellen Quinn
DRIVER follows a community of women truck drivers. Threatened by sexual violence and bound by a system in which multibillion-dollar megacarriers leave the individual driver anonymous and disposable, one woman brings together a group of drivers to find strength, solidarity, and self-determination.
Eat / Sleep/ Cheer / Repeat
Ireland
Director: Tanya Doyle
Producers: Daniel Hegarty, Sinead Ni Bhroin
This is the world of competitive Cheerleading in Ireland. No girls cheering male sports teams on from the sidelines. No American wannabes. Instead future Olympians...big stunts...strong girls battling stereotypes…Real girl power.
Eskape
France
Director: Neary Adeline Hay
Producers: Fabrizio Polpettini, Jasmin Basic
The survival story of a mother and her daughter, the filmmaker, through the desperate flight from a crumbling Cambodia after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge regime.
F@CK This Job
United Kingdom
Director: Vera Krichevskaya
Producers: Mike Lerner, Vera Krichevskaya
Natasha is a newly rich and successful woman who decides to open an independent TV station – Dozhd in Putin’s Russia. Natasha hires young reporters and minorities, as LGBTQ. Soon her “baby” became the lone island of political and sexual freedom. She lost all her money and started fighting.
Friends Not Food
United States
Director: Jason Goldman
Producer: Elizabeth MacKenzie
Friends Not Food is an observational documentary that follows Renee King-Sonnen in her daily work of rescuing farm animals and aiding ranchers in transitioning their businesses out of animal agriculture. As seen through her tireless efforts, the film will explore the complex process of farm transformation.
Hello Stranger
United Kingdom
Director: Beryl Richards
Producer: Alex Usborne
BAFTA winning drama director Beryl Richards chronicles the troubled love story of adopting son Joe. Told through 30 years of home video footage; family therapy reports; doc footage; and lyrical sequences, Hello Stranger uncovers an emotional and challenging story of identity, memory and motherhood.
How To Build A Library
Kenya
Directors/Producers: Maia Lekow & Christopher King
Two ambitious women are on a mission to revitalize Nairobi’s dilapidated libraries, and bring them up to speed with the rapidly expanding metropolis. But before realizing their dream, they must navigate the patriarchal halls of politics and address the colonial past.
I Am Sarah
United Kingdom, Germany
Director: Charly Wai Feldman
Producers: Anna Von Dziembowska, Daniel Druhora
I am Sarah follows young Sarah Mardini, a Syrian swimmer turned humanitarian in Europe, at a critical point in her life: she’s accused of running a people smuggling operation by the Greek government and could face a life sentence. In her fight for justice, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
In Whose Name?
Brazil, United States
Directors: Veronica Medina-Matzner, Natalia Castro Leite
Producers: Erica de Freitas, Veronica Medina-Matzner
Synopsis withheld. For more information, please contact the organisers.
Just A Band
United States, Canada, Kenya
Director: Anjali Nayar
Producers: Wanuri Kahiu, Caryn Capotosto, Katie Doering
Four nerdy Nairobians drop out of university to form an Afroelectric pop band, a counter-narrative to the lives expected of them. Borrowing from a post-modern cultural mishmash of Sun Ra and blaxploitation films, the film is a fresh coming-of-age story in the post-dictatorship art renaissance.
La Vida Es Un Musical
Denmark, Sweden
Director: Patty Pajak
Producers: Emil Johnsen, Thor Hampus Bank
‘La Vida es un musical’ follows the transformation into adolescence of Alvaro, a vivid, philosophical child who's biggest passion is to perform musicals - on the stage and on the town square - and dress as a lady. How do you stay true to your passion and dreams when you're told that you are wrong.
Landlock
United States
Director: Alex Pritz
Producer: William Miller
When a group of Brazilian farmers expand into a new area of the Amazon rainforest, a conflict erupts at the forest's edge.
Made In Ethiopia
United Kingdom, United States, China
Directors: Max Duncan, Xinyan Yu
Producer: Xinyan Yu
The biggest Chinese industrial zone in Ethiopia provides tens of thousands of much-needed jobs. But can its freewheeling female director, Motto, negotiate labour unrest, political chaos and the painful relocation of farmers to make it a success story of China’s historic push into Africa?
Midwives
Myanmar [Burma], Germany, Canada
Director: Hnin Ei Hlaing
Producer: Ulla Lehmann
Two midwives work side by side in a makeshift medical clinic. Filmed over three tumultuous years, their remarkable relationship reveals both tensions and the hope inherent in their common cause.
Murderabilia
United States, France
Director: Nora Mandray
Producer: Joe Bender
$1,650 for a bullet? The day mass shooting survivor Carli turns to the murderabilia market to make ends meet, she sets out on a unique path to recovery...
Nameless
Hong Kong SAR China, United States
Director: Jennifer Ngo
Producer: Lorraine Ma
Four young people swept up in the 2019 Hong Kong protests undergo personal struggles and sacrifices as part of an uprising against the autocratic Chinese government. In the process, a city is awoken, and a new identity for an entire generation is forged.
Nightcrawlers
Norway, Sweden
Directors: Petter Aaberg, Sverre Kvamme
Producers: Carsten Aanonsen, Even Benestad
In search of a calmer mind, Petter, a young man without the will to live, gets help from likeminded characters and the co-director of the film to find the tools needed to deal with his demons.
Of Boys And Men
Denmark
Director: Anders S. Jepsen
Producer: Anne Köhncke
Synopsis withheld. For more information, please contact the organisers.
On The Edge
India
Directors: Anupama Srinivasan, Anirban Dutta
Producer: Anirban Dutta
In the dense forests of northeast India, a young woman scientist studies moths. The film follows her fascinating journey in one of the most bio-diverse hotspots in the world, as she tries to predict the impact of climate change on these mysterious insects that form a crucial part of the ecosystem.
Our Daughters
United States
Director: Chithra Jeyaram
Producers: Chithra Jeyaram, Nico Opper (Consulting Producer)
A single white mother makes a bold move and chooses an Indian American couple as her twin daughters' adoptive parents. The feature documentary "Our Daughters" flips the narrative on transracial adoption and captures what unfolds. It looks at open adoption through an immigrant's lens.
Polymers
Estonia
Director: Denis Shabaev
Producers: Max Tuula, Maria Gavrilova
An uncommon story of the common villagers that started a manufacture of sex toys in the notoriously conservative south of Russia.
Roma
Ukraine, Netherlands, Denmark
Director: Olga Zhurba
Producer: Darya Bassel
The turbulent youth of young Roma from a 13-year-old hero of the Maidan revolution to the 18-year-old adult trying to survive in the criminal jungle of a small provincial town.
Siunissaq - The Last Human
Denmark, Greenland, Norway
Director: Ivalo Frank
Producers: Rie Hougaard Landgreen, Ulannaq Ingemann
The Last Human is a poetic documentary told through the eyes of Greenlandic children, scientist Minik Rosing and Artists. All relating to the origin of life and paying a tribute to humanity in between its two poles, the beginning and the possible end.
Softly In All Directions
United States
Director: Anna Barsan
Producer: Shannon Fitzpatrick
Thirty years after the fall of a brutal dictatorship, Softly in All Directions weaves together the stories of queer Romanians and former political dissidents, departing on an intimate journey into the country’s past that traverses memory, political repression, and desire.
Song Of Giants
United Kingdom
Director/Producer: James Rogan
A theatrical documentary tells the story of how the discovery of whale song changed the relationship between whales and man forever.
Stories From The Debris
Sweden, France
Director: Jennifer Rainsford
Producers: MIrjam Gelhorn, Michael Krotkiewski, David Herdies
With the Japanese Tsunami of 2011 as a backdrop, Stories From The Debris assemble a collection of peculiar, uncanny, hopeful and poetic stories about how humans and nature rebuild after trauma.
The Break Of The Brick
Chile
Directors: Carola Fuentes, Rafael Valdeavellano
Producer: Carola Fuentes
After half a century living under the neoliberal economic model established by the Chicago Boys in Chile, a jaded crowd rises throughout the country demanding economic and social transformation. The awakening of the Chilean citizens and the death of a model.
The House Is Still Dark
Denmark, Chile
Director: Felipe Roa Pilar
Producer: Thor Hampus Bank
Isolated indigenous families in Northern Nicaragua are threatened by a mysterious mental disorder while they fight to keep away invading violent landgrabbers from their rainforest.
The Last Year Of Darkness
China, United States
Director: Ben Mullinkosson
Producer: Sol Ye
Ten partygoers relentlessly search for themselves in the night, trying to savor the last moments of anonymity before the Chinese government shuts down their underground sanctuaries and pulls them out of the darkness forever.
The Pathan Sisters
France
Director: Eléonore Boissinot
Producer: Claire Babany
Gujarat, West of India. Sofia and Suzain are two teenage sisters brought up in a humble household, taken care of by their father since their mother left. Refusing the grim day-to-day routine and the shadow of the past, the girls want to embrace life to the fullest. While they grow up, reality comes knocking.
The Sixth Wall
United States
Directors: Noah Collier, Emily Mackenzie
Producers: Riel Roch-Decter, Sebastian Pardo
In the carpet Capital of the world, Dalton Georgia, a self fashioned Scottish cowboy wields the influence of Americana as he crafts an “organic country lifestyle brand” and then outsources himself to the Philippines. Where does the myth of American identity begin and end and who gets to cash in?
The Vinyl Records: Destroy Phallus Oppression
Australia
Directors: Juhi Sharma, Em Baker
Producers: Samantha Dinning, Philippa Campey
Against the backdrop of epidemic sexual violence, India's only all-girl punk band THE VINYL RECORDS take to the road, singing the war-cry of a nation’s women.
To Set A Prisoner Free
Sweden
Director: Reece Smith
Producer: Joachim Vogel
After a drunk driver kills her husband and infant daughter, Natalie slowly finds her way back by forgiving the offender.
Untitled Courtney Barnett Documentary
Australia
Director: Danny Cohen
Producers: Philippa Campey, Samantha Dinning
With unprecedented access to the private life of notoriously shy, but acclaimed musician Courtney Barnett, this documentary intimately explores the inner life of an artist in conflict with herself.
Untitled Saudi Football Girls
United Kingdom, Canada, United Arab Emirates
Directors: Sarah McCarthy, Anjali Nayar
Producer: Tewe Pannier
When Leen, Reem and Noura lead Saudi Arabia’s female soccer team through their first international season, they risk their freedom, safety and family relationships to redefine what it means to be a woman in a nation torn between a repressive past and a rapidly shifting future.
XR Beyond the Emergency
United Kingdom
Directors: Maia Kenworthy, Elena Sánchez Bellot
Producer: Katrina Mansoor
The story of a group of ordinary people who devote their lives to a radical climate movement with mass civil disobedience at its core; they are rebellious, they are law-breaking, they are flawed. And they won't stop until governments tell the truth.
ALTERNATE REALITIES TALENT MARKET
Organisations so-far confirmed to take part:
Abandon Normal Devices, Artangel, ARTE, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Birmingham Open Media, Bradford Media & Science Museum, British Underground, Centre Phi, Coventry City of Culture Trust, Crossover Labs, Digital Catapult, FutureEverything, HOME MCR, HTC Vive, Iconic Engine, National Film Board of Canada (NFB), Open City Documentary Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Serpentine Gallery, Sky VR, SXSW, Tate Galleries, Tribeca Film Institute, Wellcome Trust, Venice Biennale, and York Mediale.
Selected teams:
Alejandra Canales, Nathan Anderson
Australia
Current Project(s): OUT OF THE BOX
Medium: Immersive, Virtual Reality, Live Performance, Installation, Mixed Reality, Multisensorial VR
Alexander Whitley, Sandra Rodriguez, Sébastien Grenier-Cartier
United Kingdom, Canada
Current Project(s): FUTURE RITES
Medium: Immersive, Virtual Reality, Live Performance, Room-Scale Experience, Installation, Multi-user experience, Optitrack Motion Capture Rig
Andrew Lancaster, Jessie Mangum, Adam Butcher
United Kingdom
Current Project(s): ECHOES OF CRYSTAL PALACE
Medium: Linear film/documentary, Interactive, Immersive, Virtual Reality, Games, Immersive Sound Technology, Mobile AR, Headset AR
Baff Akoto
United Kingdom
Current Project(s): LEAVE THE EDGES; ELEVATED SWAGGER
Medium: Linear film/documentary, Artists Moving Image, Immersive, Virtual Reality, Live Performance, Room-Scale Experience, Installation, Immersive Sound Technology, Multi-Channel Video Installation
Ben Joseph Andrews, Emma Roberts, Hannah Silva
United Kingdom, Australia
Current Project(s): JUMP BLUE; GONDWANA; WURDI YOUANG
Medium: Linear film/documentary, Interactive, Immersive, Virtual Reality, Live Performance, Room-Scale Experience, Installation, Mixed Reality, Immersive Sound Technology, Pressure Vests, Breath Sensors
Bruno Martelli, Alexa Pollmann, Dan Tucker
United Kingdom
Current Project(s): DAZZLE
Medium: Linear film/documentary, Artists Moving Image, Interactive, Immersive, Virtual Reality, Live Performance, Room-Scale Experience, Installation, Artificial Intelligence, Mixed Reality, AR Masks, Projection Mapping, Spatialised Sonic Environments
Cassie De Colling, Michala Holland, Dr Harry Van Issum, Lester Francois
Australia
Current Project(s): MUGGA MUGGA VR
Medium: Immersive, Virtual Reality, 360-Video, Immersive Sound Technology
Catalina Alarcon, Maria Court, Daniela Camino
Chile
Current Project(s): GOING BACK HOME VR
Medium: Immersive, Virtual Reality, 360-Video
Damien Smith, ISO, Verena Henn, Tim Neil, Andrew L. Jones
United Kingdom
Current Project(s): THE EXPERT SWORD-MAN’S COMPANION, PUPPETS OF FATE; OWN STATE OF MIND
Medium: Linear film/documentary, Interactive, Immersive, Virtual Reality, Games, 360-Video, Room-Scale Experience, Installation, Immersive Sound Technology
David Callanan, Anna West, Steph Clarke, Jamie Finlay
United Kingdom
Current Project(s): TO MISS THE ENDING.; INTO PAGES
Medium: Immersive, Virtual Reality, Live Performance, Installation, Artificial Intelligence, Mixed Reality
Deniz Tortum, Kathryn Hamilton, Firat Sezgin
United States, Netherlands
Current Project(s): ARK
Medium: Linear film/documentary, Artists Moving Image, Interactive, Immersive, Virtual Reality, 360-Video, Room-Scale Experience, Installation, Immersive Sound Technology
Jamie Starboisky, Shannon Yee, Rosie Summers, Andy Campbell, Justine Barker, Manoli Moriaty, Marty Two Bulls Senior
United Kingdom, United States
Current Project(s): THERESE & PETA: A TALE OF TWO-SPIRITS
Medium: Interactive, Immersive, Virtual Reality, Live Performance, Room-Scale Experience, Installation, Quill Animation
Kris Hofmann, Abigail Addison
United Kingdom, Austria
Current Project(s): INSECTS & US (working title)
Medium: Artists Moving Image, Interactive, Mixed Reality
Michelle Leddon, Julia Scott-Stevenson, Liz Steininger, Jason J. Snell
United Kingdom, Germany, United States
Current Project(s): PRIVY TO
Medium: Linear film/documentary, Interactive, Immersive, Live Performance, Installation, Mixed Reality, Immersive Sound Technology, EEG Biofeedback Visualizations
Ngardy Conteh George, Alison Duke, Amanda Shelby
Antigua and Barbuda, Canada
Current Project(s): WA’OMONI RISING
Medium: Linear film/documentary, Interactive, Immersive, Virtual Reality, 360-Video
Nina Barbier, Hsin-Chien Huang, Chloé Jarry, Alexandre Roux
France
Current Project(s): THE STARRY SAND BEACH, ARCHIVR, PRÉSENCES
Medium: Interactive, Immersive, Virtual Reality, Games, 360-Video, Room-Scale Experience, Installation, Immersive Sound Technology
Patricia Bergeron, Ghassan Fayad, Colas Wohlfahrt
Canada
Current Project(s): HOTSPOT
Medium: Linear film/documentary, Interactive, Immersive, Virtual Reality, Live Performance, Installation, Mixed Reality
Sergii Polezhaka
Ukraine
Current Project(s): FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL
Medium: Interactive, Immersive, Virtual Reality, 360-Video, Augmented Reality
Sucharita Ghosh Stephenson, Madhumita Ghosh Sharma, Andrew Stephenson
United Kingdom, India
Current Project(s): DEVI DIARIES
Medium: Linear film/documentary, Artists Moving Image, Interactive, Immersive, Virtual Reality, Games, 360-Video, Room-Scale Experience, Mixed Reality, Immersive Sound Technology
Suki Chan, Anna Jancso
United Kingdom
Current Project(s): FOG; CONSCIOUS
Medium: Linear film/documentary, Artists Moving Image, Interactive, Immersive, 360-Video, Room-Scale Experience, Installation
