Top 10 Feature Documentaries on Sheffield Doc/Fest Selects
Sheffield Doc/Fest, the UK’s best and biggest documentary festival, is back!
115 films from 50 countries are taking part in the event, including 31 world premieres.
For the first time, the festival has launched a curated VOD platform called Selects, that anyone based in the UK can access. It contains a large part of this year’s selection, with the remaining films being shown in person during weekend screeners this Autumn.
From an elaborate study of the Umbrella movement, to an afternoon spent with glue-sniffing runaways in Burkina Faso and from a mesmerising biopic of Keith Haring to a profound social experiment on how we interpret shocking online content - the programme is packed with a kaleidoscopic variety of outstanding films.
"This year’s programme brings together various cinematic and narrative forms, landscapes, human existences and ways of expression. It reflects on our contemporary world through its present and its past, and a multitude of sensibilities” - Festival Director Cíntia Gil
We’ve spent the past week delving into this phenomenal collection and have emerged to bring you 10 stunning must-see films.
Keith Haring: Street Art Boy by Ben Anthony
World Premiere
When Keith Haring died aged 31 he was one of the most famous artists in the world, having blazed a trail through the art scene of 1980s New York and revolutionised the worlds of pop culture and fine art, using his art to advocate for gay rights and AIDS awareness.
Through an incredible use of archive footage, featuring Andy Warhol to Madonna and Grace Jones, including Haring’s encyclopaedic collection of polaroids, and using previously recorded interviews that form the narrative of the documentary - this is the definitive story of the artist and activist in his own words.
Keith Haring: Street Art Boy is part of the “Rhyme & Rhythm” strand and is available to view on Selects until 27 June.
The Viewing Booth by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz
UK Premiere
In a laboratory-like setup, filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz invites an American student and enthusiastic supporter of Israel, Maia, to watch and comment on uncomfortable videos depicting the daily life of occupied Palestine. Some are published online by Palestinian organisation B’tselem and others by Israeli platforms.
The film explores the surprisingly different ways in which viewers interpret documentary footage, relying heavily on preconceptions and even sometimes familiar fiction.
Maia’s response is so intriguing that Alexandrowicz invites her back for a deeper exploration of what it means to be filmmaker and a worrying reflection on how we look at images.
The Viewing Booth is part of the “Into The World” strand.
Me And The Cult Leader (Aganai) by Atsushi Sakahara
World Premiere
Atsushi Sakahara, a victim of the 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo’s subway system, travels with Hiroshi Araki, an executive of Aleph (formerly Aum Shinrikyo), the attack’s perpetrators, visiting their respective hometowns and the university they both attended.
Conversations unfold, building intimacy: we learn why Araki joined the infamous organization led by Shoko Asahara and why, still, Araki remains an executive member of the cult, even though he was not directly involved in any of the crimes. The beginning of a friendship, a trip for redemption, or the confirmation that each human has to go their own way.
Me And The Cult Leader is part of the “Ghosts & Apparitions” strand.
Influence by Richard Poplak, Diana Neille
European Premiere
A portrait of the late controversial Lord Timothy Bell and an investigation into the rise and fall of the world’s most notorious public relations and advertising firm : the British multinational Bell Pottinger.
Working with Margaret Thatcher, the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and later branching out into Africa, Russia and the Middle East, Bell Pottinger quickly earned a reputation for manoeuvring unpopular government regimes out of tight spots.
From his early days as campaign manager for Margaret Thatcher, Bell pioneered the use of behavioural marketing, at the time a burgeoning tool in advertising, to manipulate the electorate. Today, his legacy permeates every facet of modern politics, forming the basis of work such as Cambridge Analytica’s.
The film culminates in the agency’s spectacular decline due to its involvement in the recent Gupta brothers-Zuma corruption scandal in South Africa.
Influence is part of the “Into The World” strand.
Bakoroman by Simplice Ganou
UK Premiere
As part of their focus on Senegalese director Simplice Ganou, Sheffield Doc/Fest has dedicated a strand to his past works. Bakoroman was first released in 2011, but is now exceptionally available on the Selects platform.
Leaving one’s family at 7, 12 or 16 years old. Taking up residence in front of a shop, in a video store, outside a bus station. Learning to do drugs, beg, steal, flee, and fight. Making friends and enemies. Integrating into a new world. Five Bakoroman on the road from their village to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital city, in pursuit of a better life.
Bakaroman is part of the “Rebellions” Strand.
Universe by Sam Osborn, Nicholas Capezzera
World Premiere
In 1966 a landmark suite of orchestral jazz entitled “The Universe Compositions” was written for Miles Davis and set to be recorded by The Miles Davis Quintet. That moment would never happen.
The quintet broke up and the compositions were lost for 50 years…until they were recovered by Miles’ only protégé, Wallace Roney - the one musician Miles would trust to fulfil his wish. As Wallace prepares to debut “Universe,” he must find a way to uphold his mentor’s legacy. The work took on an added poignancy when Wallace unexpectedly passed away in March 2020 before seeing the music’s release out in the world.
Universe is part of the “Rhyme & Rhythm” strand and is available to watch on Selects until 28 June.
To See You Again (A Volverte A Ver) by Carolina Corral
World Premiere
In 2016 the Mexican District Attorney secretly buried more than 100 murdered bodies during the war against drug trafficking. They kept it hidden until a group of women, mothers, discovered it while searching for their missing children. One of them retrieves the body of her brother.
To See You Again narrates the participation of Mexican women as they exhume what remains of the corpses and learn about forensic work. They help us discover the crimes committed by the state when burying the bodies.
To See You Again is part of the “Into The World” strand.
Blow It To Bits (On Va Tout Peter) by Lech Kowalski
UK Premiere
In the depths of rural France the GM&S factory is set to shut, leaving 277 local employees out of work. Many of them have spent over twenty years at the factory and their average age is over 50… in other words, they’re unlikely to find a job anywhere near their home in La Creuse.
But these workers are different, they won’t leave without a fight.
A mix of pride, passion and some rock and roll spirit leads this band of brothers through an almost year-long battle with multinational corporations, the French government and ultimately, the forces that govern our capitalist societies.
Blow It To Bits is part of the “Rebellions” Strand.
We Have Boots by Evans Chan
UK Premiere
We Have Boots is a comprehensive and academic study of Hong Kong’s current upheavals, starting with 2014’s Umbrella Movement. A diverse range of commentators, activists and politicians give an oral history of the city’s extraordinary series of rebellions and the rollercoaster of emotions its people have endured.
The bravery of the young people facing prison time and their non-violent supporters is overwhelming in this epic two-hour documentary.
We Have Boots is part of the “Rebellions” Strand.
Welcome to Chechnya by David France
UK Premiere
Since 2017, Chechnya’s tyrannical leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has waged a depraved operation to “cleanse the blood” of LGBTQI+ Chechens, overseeing a government-directed campaign to detain, torture and execute them. With no help from the Kremlin and only faint global condemnation, activists take matters into their own hands.
In his new documentary, Academy Award-nominated director David France uses a remarkable approach to anonymity to expose this atrocity and to tell the story of an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.
Welcome To Chechnya is part of the “Rebellions” Strand and available to watch on Selects until 28 June.
Doc Weekly is an official media partner of Sheffield Doc/Fest. Get in touch to find out more about how we collaborate with festivals.
