Workshops & Special Activities

To coincide with the 30th Edition of Sheffield DocFest, and based on the ongoing research of Sheffield Hallam University researchers, this exhibition opens up the DocFest archive to take visitors on a history of the festival and to consider where it all started and where it goes next.
 

Inspired by the new documentary premiering at Sheffield DocFest, My Blonde GF, this panel will explore the challenges facing filmmakers and journalists in an age of disinformation. 

Returning for 2023 and under the guidance of filmmaker mentor Kevin Macdonald, we invite six filmmakers to make a short documentary in and around Sheffield during the festival.

Special screening of the Grand Jury Award Winner for the International Competition - In the Rearview. 

One country. One minibus. Many journeys. This fly-on-the-wall film captures Ukrainians as they are forced to leave their homes and drive into the unknown.

Special screening of the Grand Jury Award Winner for the International First Feature Competition, Q.

Jude Chehab’s debut feature untangles her family’s connection to a Syrian religious order, making for a nuanced and tense exploration of matrilineal trauma.

Join us for the launch event and first Open Assembly of the Documentary Film Council (DFC), a new sector-wide body for the UK independent documentary film industry that will be owned and run by and for its members.

Created by author and journalist Jonathan Freedland, Jews. In Their Own Words. is a special, one-hour abridged version of the 2022 verbatim play produced by the Royal Court Theatre.

Special Kino Bambino screening of The Gullspång Miracle where, a series of coincidences lead sisters Kari and May to Olaug, the spitting-image of an older sibling who was believed to have committed suicide decades ago.

Relaxed Screening of A Year in the Field, BAFTA-winning documentarian Christopher Morris reflects upon human existence, its relationship to the environment and the urgent need for compassion and transformation.

Relaxed Screening of Confessions of a Good Samaritan where filmmaker Penny Lane’s decision to donate one of her kidneys to a complete stranger leads her on a journey to understand the nature of altruism.

Relaxed Screening of three short films from our festival programme that explore poetry, childhood, imagination, nature, and gratitude.

Special screening of the Sheffield DocFest Audience Award Winner - Your Fat Friend.

Jeanie Finlay’s portrait of writer, blogger and activist Aubrey Gordon is a celebratory account of an individual who embraced their identity and challenged lazy stereotypes.