This article was amended on 12 November 2024.
From 12 - 17 June 2024, we celebrated our 31st edition in Sheffield and online. Following on from the success of the festival, we're pleased to present our 2024 Festival Report and invite you to reflect on the achievements of this year's edition with us!
Click here for the 2024 Festival Report
This year's festival attracted 40,809 in-person admissions with a further 3,687 online views of films in the programme. Across the festival, our public admissions grew significantly, again, by more than 25%, proving that documentary in the cinema has the power to inspire and engage cinephiles, the doc-curious and first timers alike. 41% of them attended more than 4 films or events and 99% of them had a good, or better, time with us! More than 30% of our public audiences came from outside of South Yorkshire, some even travelling from overseas, from Japan, Poland, the USA, New Zealand, and from all over the UK from Leeds, to Edinburgh, to London. The festival also welcomed 2,283 industry delegates from 71 countries across the world.
"Sheffield DocFest is the most community-building experience I’ve been a part of whilst working in film. Considering the tough times we all face, it’s amazing to come together, meet so many friendly faces and share our work and passions. It’s a unifying and motivating experience all-round.” – 2024 Festival Delegate
Our 2024 programme boasted 108 premieres, including 47 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, 14 European Premieres and 34 UK Premieres, from 57 countries of production with 50 languages represented. 205 screenings took place in Sheffield cinemas and venues and more than 87% of films were presented with attending directors, producers and/or subjects, bringing talent and subjects to the festival along with their stories.
Top 10 Audience Rated Films:
- Strike: An Uncivil War - Daniel Gordon / UK / 2024 (Audience Award Winner)
- No Other Land - Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal / Palestine, Norway / 2024
- Yintah - Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano / Canada / 2024
- Daughters - Natalie Rae, Angela Patton / USA / 2024
- Life on the Edge - Johnny Langenheim, Sebastian Feehan / Greenland, United Kingdom / 2024
- Silent Men - Duncan Cowles / Scotland, United Kingdom / 2024
- Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa - Lucy Walker / USA / 2023
- An Army of Women - Julie Lunde Lillesæter / Norway, Germany, USA / 2024
- Sugarcane - Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie / Canada, USA, Italy / 2024
- We Can Be Heroes - Carina Mia Wong, Alex Simmons / USA / 2024
"I just wanted to thank you for making this festival such a special and safe place, especially for the filmmakers of different backgrounds. Having three sold out screenings gave me so much hope for a different future. I only wish I could share this amazing experience with Yusef and Marielle.” – Mahdokht Mahmoudabadi, Filmmaker – Three Promises
Looking beyond feature-docs we expanded our Podcast programme, adding industry sessions and returning the Podcast Pitch alongside new episodes and discussion with makers. First Impressions, our TV preview strand returned with four new series exploring Black British boxing legends, an intimate portrait of author Hanif Kureishi, life in North Korea and the enduring appeal of Cults in the US.
New partnership with the International Documentary Association (IDA) co-curated a programme of truly immersive XR, VR and interactive artworks in Site Gallery, augmented by live Bat Jam DJ set, a sound bath, and the chance to cast your own fingers inspired by Laura Dima’s fascinating The Finger Rub Rug.
Our Industry Talks programme explored important topics including violence against women on screen, rewriting Black and Asian British History and the need to support freelancers at a critical and turbulent time for our sector, while the Craft Summit explored everything from Archives to AI.
The MeetMarket selected and supported 50 projects for curated 121 meetings and Rough Cut presentations, helping international filmmakers, buyers, funds and co-producers to connect with one another and do business, across these events and a wider programme of marketplace activity open to all festival delegates.
Our talent programmes supported 27 early-career makers, crew, artists and critics, across four talent development programmes: Alternate Realities Talents, supporting emerging immersive, AR and XR artists; Amplify Production Talents, supporting below the line UK TV production talent; DocFest Youth Jury, nurturing the next generation of curators, critics and creatives; and the third edition of DocFest’s Filmmaker Challenge, supporting six early-career documentary directors mentored this year by Oscar and BAFTA nominated filmmaker Julie Cohen.
More than 200 speakers & facilitators joined us for an expanded programme of 51 talks, sessions, craft summit and pitches. Talks and Conversations were headlined by Idris Elba, Munya Chawawa, Julie Adenuga, Frank Bruno, Walter Murch, Anna Hall, Chris van Tulleken and Simon Reeve.
Top 5 Talks & Sessions rated by DocFest Audiences:
- Podcast Live: Time, Paper, Bone
- Chris van Tulleken in Conversation
- Simon Reeve in Conversation
- Roger Ross Wiliams in Conversation
- Channel 4 interview: Anna Hall
"I love coming to Sheffield DocFest. It’s the grounding in my year: a chance to meet up with old friends but, more importantly, I always leave feeling inspired by some work that I’ve seen or someone’s bravery in why they made a film or full of awe at someone’s beautiful creativity & storytelling.” – Anna Hall (2024 Channel 4 Interview)
