Our networking sessions can be a valuable opportunity to meet and connect with potential collaborators and organisations. By attending these sessions, you can expand your professional network, learn about new opportunities and insights in your field, and potentially find new partners.
To make the most out of these sessions, it's important to come prepared with an open mind, clear goals, and a willingness to engage with others. You may want to bring business cards or other materials to help others remember you and your work, and be ready to discuss your own background and interests. It can also be helpful to do some research ahead of time to learn about the organisations and individuals attending the session, so you can have more focused conversations and make more meaningful connections.
Overall, networking sessions can be a valuable tool for advancing your career and expanding your professional network. We hope you have a great experience at the Marketplace in Cutlers Hall!
Marketplace Café in Cutlers Hall
Located in the heart of the Marketplace, the café offers a comfortable and inviting space where you can grab a coffee, a bite to eat, and set up meetings with industry delegates and festival guests.
Opening hours:
14 June - 12:00 - 17:00
15 & 16 June - 9:00 - 18:00
Snap Chats: 10 minute meets
The number one reason delegates come to DocFest Marketplace is to meet. So let’s do this! Whether you’re looking to find new collaborators for your next film, contribute to someone else’s project, or simply expand your network of doc enthusiasts, get yourself to this mixer. The format is simple: take a seat, chat with the delegate opposite, every 10 minutes you move one seat to the left and meet someone new. Who will you end up chatting with?
Wed 14 June / 12:30 - 14:00 / Cutlers’ Hall - Hadfield Hall
NO SIGN UP NEEDED
Registration for the sessions is closed now. Please come to the session to see if there is a last-minute seat. We'll give away seats 5 minutes before the event if someone didn't show up.
Except the FWD-Doc + IDA’s Nonfiction Access Initiative (NAI) + DFC Disabled Filmmakers Meetup - sign-up can still be done below.
Roundtables: Meet the Industry
These intimate round table sessions are set up around various topics with an expert in the series, festival, distribution and creative fields. The discussions will focus on specific parts of financing, distributing or making of a project. Find answers to your burning questions and get to know fellow film and industry professionals.
Roundtable: Meet the Editors
Confirmed editors: Rachel Roberts (Is There Anybody Out There?), Afsaneh Salari (Great are the Eyes of a Dead Father), Chloë Lambourne (My Friend Lanre), Alice Powell (Your Fat Friend), Delaram Shemirani (Can I Hug You?) and Fahd Ahmed (Q).
Thursday 15 June / 12:00 - 13:00 / Cutlers’ Hall - Drawing Room
Roundtable: Meet the Distributors & Sales
Confirmed experts: Elina Kewitz (NEW DOCS), Marcella Jelic (Split Screen), Hanne Biermann (Deckert Distribution), Ana Fernandez Saiz (Impronta Films), Chris Harris (Picturehouse) and Emma Simpson (Journeyman Pictures).
Thursday 15 June / 14:30 - 16:00 / Cutlers’ Hall - Drawing Room
Roundtable: Meet the Shorts & Series
Confirmed experts: Lindsay Poulton (The Guardian), Yvonne Ashley Kouadjo (The New York Times Op-Docs), Beth Simpson (Lyfta), Scott Morris (Tate Modern), Brian Hill and Liz Biggs (Century Films).
Friday 16 June / 11:00 - 12:30 / Cutlers’ Hall - Drawing Room
Roundtable: Meet the Festivals
Confirmed festivals: Julie Nederkoorn (Movies that Matter), Heather Haynes (Hot Docs), Milton Guillén (Camden International Film Festival), Anna Krasztev-Kovács (CPH:DOX), Jasper Hokken (DFA) and Madeline Roberts (Vision du Reel).
Friday 16 June / 13:30 - 15:00 / Cutlers’ Hall - Drawing Room
Co-producing Morning: Breakfast and Collaboration
Hosted by UK Global Screen Fund
Join us for a networking breakfast with coffee and pastries. This event, focused on international co-production, is aimed at producers wanting to find international co-production partners or collaborators in the UK. The event will feature a presentation by the UK Global Screen Fund, launched in April 2021 and designed to boost international development, production, distribution, and promotional opportunities for the UK’s independent screen sector. The fund, financed by the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport and delivered by the BFI, has already awarded funding to 24 international co-productions through partnerships with 25 territories including France, Germany, Ireland, Latin America, New Zealand and China. Meet the team and find out more about the opportunities on offer for co-producing with the UK.
Thursday 15 June / 9:00 - 11:00 / Cutlers Hall - Hadfield Hall
FWD-Doc + IDA’s Nonfiction Access Initiative (NAI) + DFC Disabled Filmmakers Meetup
Join Keisha Knight, Director of Funds & Advocacy at the International Documentary Association, Lindsey Dryden, Co-Founder of FWD-Doc for an informal meetup to discuss the Nonfiction Access Initiative (NAI) and activate the NAI Nonfiction Media Makers with Disabilities survey.
The Nonfiction Access Initiative (NAI) was started from the desire to create an international regranting fund for nonfiction media-makers from the disability community. We define nonfiction media makers broadly as those working across different forms of nonfiction storytelling (film, podcast, immersive, new media, etc.). In the research and development process, we recognized the need for a broader infrastructure to support nonfiction media makers from the disability community. The NAI survey is intended to gather data that will allow IDA through NAI to fulfill the goal of creating a regrant fund and also develop infrastructures to support nonfiction media makers from the disability community. FWD-Doc is IDA’s lead advising partner in this work, and Lindsey and Keisha will discuss the survey at the top of the meeting, with connecting and networking to follow.
Friday 16 June / 16:00 - 17:30 / Cutlers’ Hall - Drawing Room
Contact for futher information or assistance: industry@sheffdocfest.com
