The Sheffield DocFest has unveiled its line-up for its 2021 programme that includes the World Premiere of the first instalment of Academy Award winner Steve McQueen’s new series for the BBC, ‘Uprising’.
For the first time, Sheffield DocFest goes nationwide with five premiere screenings showing in up to 16 partner cinemas in cities around the UK, and online, followed by pre-recorded Q&As. It also includes the previously announced Retrospective: Films belong to those who need them – fragments from the history of Black British Cinema.
The celebration of Black British screen culture – curated by guest curators including David Olusoga. Films of all lengths will all be presented as part of the retrospective including titles such as ‘Burning An Illusion’ by Menelik Shabazz, ‘It Ain’t Half Racist’, ‘Mum’ by Stuart Hall, ‘Looking for Langston’ by Isaac Julien, ‘Second Coming’ by Debbie Tucker Green, ‘The Black Safari’ by Colin Luke, ‘Baby Mother’ by Julien Henriques and Franco Rosso’s ‘The Mangrove Nine’, among many others. Karen Alexander has joined the previously announced line-up of guest curators.
Premieres include
- The European premiere of ‘My Name is Pauli Murray’, about the pioneering Black attorney, activist, priest and poet, directed by Betsy West & Julie Cohen (Oscar-nominated for RGB). Betsy and Julie will also be the subjects of this year’s BAFTA Masterclass.
- The UK Premiere of ‘The First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation’ by Avi Mograbi. a timely and critical focus on the history of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
- The UK Premiere of ‘Lift Like a Girl’ byMayye Zayed follows 14-year-old Zebiba as she trains to become a weightlifting champion (in partnership with Birds Eye View’s Reclaim the Frame).
- The previously announced Opening Film: the European Premiere of ‘The Summer of Soul’ about the seminal and extraordinary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, followed by a Q&A with the director, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson.
- The previously announced Closing Film: the World Premiere of ‘The Story of Looking’ by Mark Cousins, based on his book of the same name. Mark Cousins will be in a live-streamed conversation from Sheffield.
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The festival will also be commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 atrocities in the Into The World strand featuring titles such as ‘In The Shadow of 9/11’ by Dan Reed, ‘9/11: One Day in America’ directed by Daniel Bogado, ‘Surviving 9/11’ (working title) by Arthur Cary, and ‘My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan’ by Phil Grabsky and Shoaib Sharifi.
Along with its first-ever UK Competition and feature 78 features and 88 shorts in the Film programme including premieres from Brian Hill, Kazuo Hara, Kim O’Bomsawin, Lynne Sachs, Mania Akbari, Paula Gaitán, Rosine Mbakam, Theo Anthony, Vivian Ostrovsky, Yael Bartana and Yaël Abecassis.
In Sheffield, films will be screened at Showroom Cinema and Abbeydale Picture House, with the Arts Programme at Site Gallery, S1 Artspace and Sheffield Hallam University Performance Lab.
Around the UK cinemas include; Arts Picturehouse in Cambridge, BFI Southbank in London, Broadway in Nottingham, Chapter in Cardiff, City Varieties Music Hall (in partnership with Hyde Park Picturehouse) in Leeds, Duke of Yorks Picturehouse in Brighton, Eden Court Highlands in Inverness, FACT in Liverpool, Filmhouse in Edinburgh, Glasgow Film Theatre, HOME in Manchester, National Media Museum in Bradford, Phoenix in Exeter, Quad in Derby, Queens Film Theatre in Belfast and Watershed in Bristol. (Physical screenings are subject to government guidelines).
View the full programme at the following link here
The festival runs 4 – 13 June 2021, in Sheffield, in cinemas across the UK and online.
Tickets and passes can be purchased here: sheffdocfest.com/attend/
