Doc/Fest - Sheffield

This year, 10x10 gets a Sheffield Twist: the focus is on the all-important trailer! Find out what works, what doesn’t, and why at this hugely popular workshop, where three filmmakers will screen up to ten minutes of a trailer-in-progress and receive ten minutes of directed feedback from you, the audience. So, take a break from all the pitching and remember why you wanted to make documentaries i...

“But last night the plans for a future war, it was all I saw on Channel 4.” Oh Morrissey, there’s been so much more.
In this session we will look over the history of Documentary on C4 with commissioners past and present. The session will give an understanding of how documentary evolved on C4, the breakout hits, and why it has become central to the channel’s success. But fear not, this won’t ...

Emad Burnat, a Palestinain and Guy Davidi, an Israeli, teamed up to create the highly personal and revelatory documentary film, 5 Broken Cameras. Detailing the brutality of Israeli settlement incursions into Burnat's town of Bil'in, the filmmaker's lives are even put at risk. In this exclusive and intimate post-screening Question & Answer discussion, both directors will discuss the making of th...

In A to Z of Distribution (with an emphasis on 'E'), come learn what distinguishes the leading documentary distributors in the U.S. marketplace: Kino Lorber, Women Make Movies, DER and Roco Films. Moderated by Elizabeth Sheldon, VP of Kino Lorber, discover how each distributor selects films, their different paths to market, what makes each company unique, and what they all have in common (hint:...

Join BAFTA to hear from the team behind the extraordinary Frozen Planet, BBC 1’s natural history epic. Taking viewers on a captivating journey to one of the most remote parts of the world and nominated for five British Academy Television Craft Awards in 2012, Frozen Planet used cutting edge technology to capture planet’s harshest terrain, bringing to life the ultimate portrait of Earth’s polar ...

Drop into Phoenix Bar Friday 15th June between 1430 and 1730; Frank Ash offers 1-2-1 coaching in pitching for Festival delegates who want to nail the proposition and explore the best way to sell their new, content idea. Book Frank at the Info Desk in the Delegate Centre. Or drop in anytime and ask Gareth Watkins about pushing your self-shooting technique or handle the latest kit and explore how...

There have been a growing number of interesting documentary projects in the cross-media and/ or transmedia field in recent years. Experience in how to tell stories across multiple platforms and devices is growing. In parallel to this development, there is still little knowledge and expertise in the financing, production and distribution of these projects. Apart from lack of experience, the fact...

Examples of best and the worst experiences of commercially-funded factual TV and documentary film. Practical advice to help producers get into production - but make the right decisions in doing so. Explanation of what brands are looking for in 2012-13, what leads them to a green light, what they expect in return - and how to manage the relationship. And exclusive results of a sometimes shoc...

This year Channel 4 will be interviewing award winning film-maker Morgan Matthews. This session will look at the evolution of Morgan as a film maker and explore the people and documentaries that have influenced him and his work. We’ll discuss his greatest hits at a craft level and how he’s grown from an independent film maker to driving his own company.

In BBC2s recent Bafta- nominated series Protecting Our Children, unprecedented access took the viewer to the heart of the issues facing Britain’s social workers. But it also presented enormous challenges to the programme makers, as well as unusually at-risk contributors. So how did they do it, and what were the pitfalls along the way? Brian Woods, who has himself produced several award-winning ...

Live from the Clinic, a spin-off of the multiplatform juggernaut that is Embarrassing Bodies, pushes the boundaries of Live and Direct - a viewer can be watching at 8pm and can have consulted Dr Christian or Dr Dawn face-to-face live on TV by 9pm. Woven into the show is a rich mix of interactive elements ranging from innovative forms of interactive video to unique video symptom checkers (which ...

Co-production of documentaries between Chinese and international broadcasters has until recently been rare. But things are changing fast. Chinese documentary and factual channels are finding new niche markets among the growing middle class. And they are receiving more state funding as part of a drive to give culture more prominence. This session will examine the opportunities and challenges fo...

Come and hear the latest commissioning briefs that a range of Science and Natural History Commissioners are working to... Find out what slots are doing well? what are they looking for? one offs? series? formats? Are there any upcoming seasons and themes they need programs for are looking for that producers should be aware of? Commissioners from the UK and Europe share what's been working well o...

Factual is everywhere on British digital channels but it really needs to hit the target audience. Commissioners for nonterrestrial channels have money to spend and there are great opportunities to break into new markets, so how exactly do they commission, and what are they looking for right now? And with the digital channel landscape constantly evolving, who should you be pitching to and how?

This time we’re whisking our panelists away to dream up their desert island docs, and share with us what inspires them, both on their own channel and others. Through their choices, you’ll get to understand what makes them tick, and have the facility to ask questions about what they are looking for.

It’s the factual stuff that lots of people want to watch, it’s the programming that gets written about, and it can be some of the most groundbreaking content on TV. But what’s the secret of being popular? Commissioning Editors who want to fund factual that makes for ratings successes will explain the secrets of making really good pop. They’ll reveal the best features and formats of the past yea...

Specialist Factual is often where the big-ratings-hits and sometimes where the big money comes from. Interest in science, history and natural history programming in particular continues to grow. Plus it’s often from within Specialist Factual departments that the big international co-productions arise. So what exactly unites and divides Specialist Factual across borders? Hear from UK, European a...

The History Channel has embraced interactive media experimenting with 4Square and through a partnership with the Museum of London to create augmented reality experiences that bring history alive in the streets of the capital. Chris Hancox will discuss their strategy to make history more accessible and relevant to the present day by engaging younger viewers and how this helps redefine the channe...

The self-shooting director or AP often does the job of camera, sound, producer and director all by themselves. Besides filming, they need to concern themselves with key issues of directing, such as character selection and development, preparing and conducting interviews, managing, observing or staging events and developing their story. So what do you prioritise? Henry Singer delivers this intro...

It’s a risky and traumatic time to be a frontline filmmaker and journalist. Tim Hetherington, Chris Hondros, Anton Hammerl, Marie Colvin, Rémi Ochlik: tragic additions to a long, growing casualty list. How to enhance security and wellbeing for filmmakers on the frontline? The Frontline Club is creating a Safety White Paper. Hetherington’s collaborator, Sebastian Junger, is working on a journali...

Over the last few years Chris King has earned himself a reputation as one of the most creative and incisive documentary editors in Britain, bagging two Academy Award nominations, two Baftas, and numerous other awards for projects like Senna, Exit Through The Gift Shop, Our War, and Welcome To Lagos. In a conversation with Sam Anthony from BBC Factual Commissioning, Chris will share his unique ...

Games like Bejeweled, Draw Something or Words with Friends are not one-off media events, but are on-going almost living entities.  Being connected to the network they can collect huge amounts of data from players and so feed back to the designers which elements work and which do not.  This allows them to respond, changing and improving the project in response.  But while this ‘bio-media model’ ...

In some areas of Television, such as News and Current Affairs, female experts are outnumbered by as much as four to one by their male peers. However, what happens in other genres, such as Specialist Factual or Documentaries? Our panel, who hold some of the most influential jobs in British Broadcast will debate why there are too few, or perhaps, too many women in front of the screens and ask if ...

They have been praised for bringing Big Brother technology into the real world, and are beloved of viewers. Fixed rig series like One Born Every Minute, 24 Hours in A & E and Educating Essex have introduced a new category of observational filmmaking to our screens, where cameras without invasive crews document intimate settings. But what is sacrificed when the filmmaker is not present? Do the l...

Present financial challenges mean that documentary makers need to look beyond film agencies, TV and distribution advances to fund their film. Dozens of foundations, charities, and brands are funding docs while 1000’s of individuals are contributing via crowd-sourcing. But is a filmmaker's editorial independence compromised when a documentary is backed by a charity, brand or individuals? Are aut...

CERN in Geneva is regularly onscreen with big science docs or news of the Higgs Boson. But what makes these brilliant folk do this amazing, elusive work? Films of Record gained access to CERN and collaborated with Google to show frequent shorts with insights into the human side of particle physics. Shown on Youtube in any order, they are 'the new physics of television.' Is this the future? Goo...

The revolution has happened (get over it!) storytellers via the medium of digital are now free to express, create and share films as a dialogue with an audience from idea to the cinema – but what does this business model look like, and what tool / skillset will you need – as the film-maker becomes the distributor. This session is part case study, part how to guide and part debate on the future ...

Mark Atkin, Crossover as the curator of the Crossover Summit outlines the themes and intentions of the day

Award winning film maker and director of the ground-breaking 'Up' series, Michael Apted talks about his career in both documentary making and feature films.

John Peel’s Record Collection is one of the most important and amazing in the World and has remained virtually untouched since the day he died. On May 1st a project began to create an online museum of John’s collection. Each week John’s wife Sheila introduces the first 100 albums in each category from A-Z together with band interviews, John’s handwritten notes, album artwork and home movies...

Join us to find out more about the doc filmmaking scene in Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia. Three experienced panellists (a Ukrainian producer, a Georgian doc filmmaker, and an Armenian promoter) will give us an overview of the main challenges and opportunities for the sector in this region - from emerging content trends and key filmmakers to promotional platforms and co-production opportunities.

What talent is coming out of the South American film industry today? With countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Columbia and Uruguay forging talented filmmakers and powerful stories from this continent, what are the opportunities for co production between Latin America and Europe? Come to this panel to get an overview of the most important festivals and industry events in Latin America, a...

Life’s a Pitch is a lively pitching panel event for young people on talent and skills development schemes, Second Light (supported by The Grierson Trust) and DocNext Network. Come along to hear fresh, diverse voices and new ideas from different perspectives. Second Light Doc Lab participants will be demonstrating their skills of persuasion in front of an industry panel, with DocNext attendees ...

How did series producer Rosie Bowen Jones deal with 400 hours of file-based rushes per programme for her hilarious and moving series Driving Me Crazy, including 100 hours of Go Pro? The popularity of archive shows is on the rise, yet the workflow is becoming trickier. Learn from expert archivist Jacqui Edwards - what happens when it goes right and what can go very wrong? And, we’ve got somethin...

When the Internet media published footage of a live Siberian Mammoth it went viral. Not surprisingly it was a hoax but this hoax was created using stolen documentary footage. The filmmaker concerned fought back via the Internet, his story also went viral. While fighting for compensation he was accused of generating the hoax and had his email account and YouTube channel hacked and deleted.
This...

While the hundred plus television stations in China battle with the unique challenges of government supervision and market competition, documentary channels are attracting increasing audiences and state funding, providing much-needed cultural programming. As China becomes a major world economic power, Chinese Television is both acquiring more internationally-made documentaries and beginning to...

Does your documentary idea feature children? Could the story be told from their point of view?
All over the world children are watching and interacting with inspiring documentary content. Many children’s channels commission documentaries from new filmmakers – but what are they looking for and who are they?
This session will feature documentary content for children fresh from the prestigious ...

Independent filmmakers from the Middle East are enjoying unprecedented global interest in their productions as a result of the Arab Spring. Untold stories are searching for new markets. Coproduction opportunities are beginning to emerge along with the new media industries of the Gulf region. Could this be the right time to partner with a Middle East producer, to pitch to a TV network or funding...

The Mini-MeetMarket is a unique opportunity for emerging filmmakers to get feedback on their documentary idea, with advice and guidance from established executive producers. Led by the Documentary Filmmakers Group, up to 30 filmmakers have been selected to take part in this steering and pitching session, which begins with a mini-workshop on how to pitch a proposal, followed by an intimate round...

In these financially precarious times there is endless rhetoric about crowdfunding being the knight on a white charger come to the save the creative industries. But is that realistic? For those that do, is the benefit more than just the money raised? Is it worth crowdfunding a portion of your traditionally financed project purely for the audience interaction? WARNING! This is not a "HOW TO CROW...

Question: What connects Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill, Kim Longinotto, Molly Dineen, and Sean McAllister to name only a handful? Answer: They were all set on their journey by the man who founded the National Film & Television School- Colin Young. This session explores Colin Young’s influence on this inspirational generation of filmmakers. What will he do to inspire the next? Messrs Churchill,...

Musician and Composer Barrie Gledden shares his tips on how to make music work seamlessly in your film. He also looks at the vital dialogue between pictures and music, perhaps challenging the way you think about these choices. Audio Network’s Managing Director Juliette Squair will then take a brief look at the different types of music available to film makers, and the rights that need to be ...

Last year, Nick Fraser interviewed A.A. Gill at Sheffield drawing out A.A's thoughts on the documentary for, which he delivered with his trademark candor and frankness. This year, they are back at the festival, but the tables have turned, this time A.A. Gill will be putting Nick Fraser on the spot in an attempt to discover what Nick's take is on the role of documentary and the representation of...

Why, as the scientific evidence of climate change becomes ever stronger, does media and public interest decline and policy remain weak ? Is climate change too complex, too long term, too depressing or could it be film makers’ greatest challenge? Two leading scientists, Professor Chris Rapley and Lorraine Whitmarsh, discuss with film makers and broadcasters the latest evidence of climate change...

Protest and dissent has flourished across the world in the last 12 months, and documentary-makers are playing their part. But what role can filmmakers play in empowering the 99% and challenging Governments and Corporations? Join a panel of activist-filmmakers discussing their role in speaking truth to power, and using documentary as a tool of protest. There are great challenges in making a film...

Tim Pool became an overnight online phenomenon the night Occupy Wall Street was first evicted from Zuccotti Park in New York City. His live stream marathon drew more than 20,000 simultaneous viewers and 250,000 unique visitors throughout the course of the day. Pool uses a smart phone with a taped sign reading "livestream" – and streams unfiltered, unedited footage. He invites the viewing public...

Every day we face a flood of emotion pouring out of our screens – whether it’s the excitement and awe of presenters on a journey or the embarrassment, joy and grief experienced by members of the public in television rig and reality series. This emotion can draw us into the wonders of our solar system, universe and even life itself, but just how much of it do we really need? It’s long been use...

This panel discussion is not about what documentaries we should be making about Africa, but what documentaries Africa is making about itself. The focus is East Africa, the emphasis is on new technology like the mobile phone and the question is whether an indigenous style of documentary is emerging?

Many producers look enviously toward the rapidly maturing documentary sector in Asia, dreaming of pots of gold. In fact, while documentary production and co-production are expanding, pots of gold remain elusive -- if not illusionary. In this Pan- Asian Panel we look at the current state of play with the movers and shakers of the continent to see what works and what doesn't in terms of both cont...

This year Women Make Movies, the NY based non-profit organization support women filmmakers through distribution and production assistance, celebrates its 40th Anniversary with 40 events in 40 cities. At Doc Fest, WMM will screen several of its newest releases and Debra Zimmerman, WMM's long time Executive Director, will moderate a panel with successful women producers from the international d...

‘The Sexperience 1000’ is an attempt to re-energise Data Visualisation and in the process turn something from the cutting room floor into an enjoyable, engaging exemplar of factual multiplatform. It was interwoven with The Sex Education Show features series on Channel 4. This session summarises how and why it was commissioned and traces the creative process that led to a prize-winning nugget of...

Do you have what it takes to bring science, history and religion alive for documentary audiences across the world? The Specialist Factual New Talent Pitch gives new talent presenters from a range of academic disciplines the chance to show a panel of commissioning editors, specialist factual producers, and funders what they can do. Aspiring presenters pitch cutting edge research in their area as...

Sky is investing more money in original home-grown programming than ever before, with new factual a key priority. As Sky Atlantic signals its commitment to factual with a string of exciting new commissions, Celia Taylor (Head of Features and Factual) and Naomi Gibney (Acting Director of Sky Atlantic) discuss ambitions for factual programming on Sky Atlantic, and across Sky's portfolio of channels.

As a new indie or filmmaker, it can sometimes feel like you’re fighting for the attention of broadcasters against some pretty big fish. In this frank and revealing session, DFG will present the findings of its wide-ranging survey of UK documentary filmmakers, producers and commissioning executives, exploring filmmakers’ experiences of breaking in to broadcast (and staying there) and commissione...

This Fall, LinkTV is launching the new LinkTV News App. The LinkTV News app delivers breaking global news from extensive and diverse collections of video news sources, directly into your hands. Along with relevant documentaries and videos the App combines perspective with authentic voices from around the world. www.linktvapps.com

Designed to build anticipation for Season 2 of Discovery Channel’s reality series The Colony, “The Colony Experiment” immersed a socially-connected audience in their own personal apocalyptic prequel. This spotlight will showcase the blend of faux-documentary elements, transmedia storytelling techniques and dynamic personalisation, that were used to tell the story of the end of the World - as s...

This session will off er a highly interactive afternoon, creating audience engagement and non-traditional distribution strategies for a feature documentary at the Festival. Working Films UK will develop some early plans for the film’s campaign with a suggested range of potential partners – including leading NGOs and some corporate brands. We’ll invite some of these NGO partners to collaborate w...

Taster Tapes: Nice to have or an essential selling element in the current climate? Nothing will get your idea to the top of the pile better than a great taster. I can’t tell you – it’s so much easier to see something and tell if there’s something in it”. - Charlotte Moore - BBC Commissioning Editor Documentaries
But a taster can kill an idea as quick as sell it, so what makes a good one? Hea...

The 94 Elements Live Pitch sees 5 filmmakers pitch their films for the 94 Elements project, with the Doc/Fest audience voting for who wins a crowdfunded £5000 commission. 94 Elements is a new multi-year, cross-media documentary project exploring our lives through the lens of the 94 naturally occurring elements, from Hydrogen to Plutonium. Award-winning filmmakers and new documentary talent will...

This year The BBC Interview invites choirmaster, presenter and populariser of choral singing, Gareth Malone to join them for an exclusive interview. Explore Gareth’s extraordinary rise to fame, and hear how his passion for music has reignited interest in choral music through the BAFTA and RTS award-winning BBC 2 series The Choir. His 2011 follow-up series The Choir: Military Wives led Gareth to...

The Cathedral Builders, a work-in-progress from ARTE, is designed for longevity and has an unusual mix of production partners. A 3D film about medieval cathedral-builders leads us to a webdoc and a casual game, that allow us to experience building virtual cathedrals, while augmented reality apps enhance the experience of visiting the sites. This German‒French co-production by Seppia and Indifil...

Five contenders will compete in front of a panel of executive producers and Nick Mirsky, Deputy Head of Factual at Channel 4. Candidates will be judged on their CV, experience and the project they are pitching. The prize is a chance to direct a 24-minute film for Channel 4’s critically acclaimed documentary new talent strand, First Cut, on a budget of £50k. The runner-up will win £5k developmen...

Ralph Lee and Richard Davidson-Houston invite you to this DocFest Fuel4 event.
The way we tell real people’s stories is changing all the time. In this interactive Channel 4 event speakers and attendees will debate what rapid technological development means for the evolution of ‘documentary’ across platforms, and how we can innovate the genre. With hands-on demonstrations the aim is to give pr...

The Space is a new on-demand digital arts service developed by the Arts Council in partnership with the BBC. This ‘test-light’ offers a great opportunity to explore how such a service was made possible, what it hopes to achieve and what difficulties it has faced along the way. Through case studies from commissioned projects we explore what has worked, what has not worked and what can be learn...

What do a Berliner Gynaecologist and a Sâo Paulo rock star have in common? Find out at the Symposium of Interesting at Sheffield Doc/Fest on 17th June where Sheffield's ‘most interesting’ people take the stage for 15 minutes to say, do, show, present, perform, anything they like. Comparable to a TED talk, but where participants invite each other. The symposium is the ‘real life’ facet of the th...

The Wellcome Trust Broadcast Development Award Pitch returns for a fifth year. Five programme makers will pitch their idea to a panel of Wellcome Trust Executives and leading broadcast figures. Awards of up to £10,000 are available and there could be more than one winner. The prize will enable the pitched ideas to be developed into high impact, well-researched proposals to help secure a UK broa...

British feature documentary hot shots come together to debate the space for docs on the silver screen. Every panelist will bring something different, from highlighting the importance of a story's international appeal, to enlisting a solid key crew, to using an authentic stylistic approach - feature producers, directors and distributors will be sharing their experiences with the audience .

Want to know how to engage with audiences and create a sustainable career with new distribution and marketing possibilities? Come to this workshop and take a leap into the core principles of a new system of artistic entrepreneurship for filmmakers. Discover principles of audience identification, engagement, and asset creation, learn about integrating audience engagement into the filmmaking pro...

Given the current financing and distribution market realities for small companies, here are some top tips to be successful beyond surviving in a crowded marketplace. Join industry representatives from independent production, digital content, and multi platform companies and share your thoughts on finding new ways to 'grow' your business, make partnerships that work, and keep up in the Digital m...

The first ever UKTV Innovation Pitch at Sheffield Documentary Festival will see up to six people compete to win £10,000 towards a possible UKTV commission. Each person pitching will have five minutes to try and wow UKTV’s discerning panel of judges with their presentation, followed by a Q&A session. The network is looking for a range of ideas and styles that could fit its branded channels or we...

Everyone with a mobile phone can now film their lives and share it with the world. But what happens when that content is used to make programmes? This session chaired by BBC Factual Features Commissioning Exec Producer Tom Edwards will look at how programme makers are using user generated content. What are the creative and editorial implications? Is it the democratisation of content or is the...

A Masterclass with a rare Master. Shoot an arrow directly through the molten heartcore of the Earth. Wherever it diametrically emerges on the opposite side is your Antipode. The Great Russian filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky does exactly that in his latest masterpiece ¡Vivan las Antipodas! Using the film as a background, Victor impales us with dialectic humour and wisdom, piercing the vampyric hea...

There is a huge growing appetite for more and more live programming but what happens when live meets docs? This session will look at programmes which are normally the domain of filmed and edited documentaries and see how programme makers create them in the live form. Can docs go live? Who has done it well and who hasn’t?

Who’s Who rebooted – meet the key Decision Makers and hear what’s new in the industry. We invite you to a temperamental temperature gauge of doc industry trends and expectations for 2012 and beyond. 15 key professionals jump on the platform and let us know what they are excited about right now, and what’s happening next in docs and digital. Get the latest scoop from a wise international mix of ...

There is a lot of talk about hybrid films mixing documentary and fiction. What is the news in this? What are the current trends? What do audiences get out of it? And how does one work in the hybrid field as a film maker? This session will be in two parts; first an overview of four types of hybrid films and second a discussion with producer Dr. Walter Köhler and director Jonas Poher Rasmussen wh...

The New York Times recently highlighted films coming from the Balkans as portending a possible new wave of Balkan cinema on the world stage. This recognition of the thematic potential and surging creative energy greatly contrasts the perception of the state of documentary film production in the region. What is the funding landscape in the Balkans, what opportunities does it offer for internatio...

Arts programmes have been getting a boost of late with the traditional big beasts – Channel Four and BBC – having to up their game in response to a burst of energy from Sky Arts and ITV. The international market has also been in rude health. So what are the commissioners looking for to keep up the momentum, and what do they envy of each other’s output? In this session, representatives from all ...

5 Award Winning WorldView funded directors discuss their work and their insights into directing, shooting, distributing and funding films set in the developing world. These leading directors will discuss their techniques, tips and share inside knowledge gained from years of experience at the hard end of independent international documentary filmmaking. Uncensored, the directors will share their...

This year the CBA WorldView and Community Channel is offering a grant of up to £10,000 to a filmmaker with a positive story of women and business in the developing world. Six applicants will have the opportunity to pitch an idea for a short film on “Women Mean Business” . The chosen film will challenge preconceptions about women with a surprising and engaging storyline. They will be pitching t...