Read our latest magazine

1 January 1970

Exposed Magazine

Mark Perkins rounds up the highlights of this year’s Sheffield DocFest event…

DocFest 2021 has been a triumph in the face of adversity. The organisers were ‘lucky’, in that an event such as a film festival can still go ahead, with audiences able to view films online – although what that means for the finances of staging such an event, I dread to think. Whilst limited and socially-distanced audiences were allowed, ticket holders with a computer could watch from anywhere in the world, contribute to the Q&A sessions and partake in a wide range of workshops and talks without having to travel. Being based in Sheffield, I found myself one of the few journalists who made it to the film showings, but rest assured that there was no difference to previous years in the quality or variety of documentaries on offer.

We laughed and cried as much as ever. We celebrated successes and triumphs, as much as we railed and grew angry at injustices. Most of all, we celebrated the fact that, sometimes against seemingly insurmountable odds, these filmmakers were able to tell their stories and share them with the world. Some of them were having their UK or even World Premieres, and all of them will now go on to look for other opportunities to be more widely seen. I’ve picked a few highlights, so do look out for them as they might turn up anywhere – mainstream cinema, terrestrial TV, streaming platforms… The days of sitting at home and expecting to see these films on BBC4 have long gone.

Opening the festival was Summer of Soul (… or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), a spellbinding film, documenting a forgotten music event, The Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place in the summer of 1969. Astonishingly, the footage was largely shelved and forgotten. No one wanted to show it, which is unbelievable, considering the roster of performers. Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson, a successful US musician heard about the footage, and initially refused to believe this festival ever took place. He has never directed a film before, but he decided to mix never-before-seen footage of Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & The Pips and others with contemporary interviews into a mesmerising two-hour film. It will be in cinemas soon. Don’t miss it.

DocFest

Summer of Soul

The next two films I saw, Charm Circle and RIP SENI, are reviewed elsewhere in this mag, so I’ll skip on to Portrait Of Kaye. This was one of the most charming and joyous films in the whole festival. If lockdown has achieved any positives, it’s given us an opportunity to look at things close to home. Filmmaker Ben Reed is a neighbour of Kaye, a lifelong agoraphobic, who now relies on Ben, and others, to survive alone in what was once both her parents’ house and then her marital home. In nothing much more than a series of monologues to camera, the recently widowed Kaye lets us in on intriguing parts her life story, and even her desires to explore her personal and sexual freedoms that have, until now, been hidden away.

The Battle Of Denham Ford is a film compiled entirely from phone footage, telling the story of a single day of protest on the frontline of demonstrations against the HS2 rail line. Environmental campaigners unite to halt, or at least slow down, the felling of a single tree. The potential damage that HS2 will cause to a beautiful piece of woodland is heartbreaking, and it’s impossible not to feel that this unnecessary project needs to be halted.

The screening Tales From A Hard City was a chance to see Sheffield as it looked in 1993, when Kim Flitcroft filmed a documentary about four local characters, each struggling to make thier way in post-Thatcher Sheffield. Some of it original stars were in the Showroom Cinema to see a rare screening of this forgotten of Sheffield history, and to fill us in on the fate of some of the other stars of the film. It was fascinating to see how the city has changed in some very obvious ways, particularly as they walk through the Hole in the Road, and spend time walking round areas which were an industrial wasteland before the arrival of Meadowhall.

Dear Elnaz is Javad Soleimani’s emotional film about his wife, Elnaz Nabiyi, who was killed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps when they shot down a passenger plane in 2020. His cry for justice is a harrowing but essential part of his grieving; it’s a moving and emotionally draining experience, but one that the entire audience seemed genuinely affected and angered by.

DocFest

RIP Seni

The Abbeydale Picture House was my venue of choice for the end of the festival, not least because they were showing off their restored 35mm projector. It was put to good use, showing two films over the final weekend, both for free. The first was Georges Lacombe’s fascinating La Zone, which documented a sort of wasteland on the outskirts of Paris in 1928. Working class inhabitants lived their lives there, hidden away from Parisian society, in what were often no more than flimsy shelters. The other film was Microcosmos, Claude Nuridsany’s classic 1996 journey into the intimate world of the forest, where everything is magnified, resulting in a stunning world of images to immerse viewers in.

The closing film was The Story of Looking, an intimate story told by prolific documentarian and writer Mark Cousins. It’s a very intimate and personal meditation of the power of visual images, taking place as Mark prepared for eye surgery, which itself had the potential to alter his view of the world and ability to see. An excellent choice of film to close an excellent festival of film, and a Q&A at the end from the ever-endearing Mark was joyous.

DocFest

Portrait of Kaye

One excellent result from having distanced audiences, and one I’d like to see maintained even when we return to something resembling normal, was the new approach to the post-screening Q&A. Normally, a couple of festival volunteers (all hail the fabulous volunteers, by the way) will hand around a microphone to anyone wanting to ask questions. Except that it often only goes to the audience members on the end of the row, or the ones who shout the loudest. Post-Covid that’s all changed. The host has an iPad, to which the audience, both in house and online, can equally submit their questions, which are then put to the director, or producer, or whoever is talking about the film. A vast improvement. Questions came from both the front row and France. Praise for this must indeed go to the technical team, working unseen, to enable multiscreen interviews from around the globe to take place. In the main, filmmakers couldn’t be there, but the audiences still had a chance to hear from them. To illustrate the point, the director and producer of the Audience Award Winner Charm Circle, were the only two people to attend from the USA. They had to quarantine in a hotel for a week before they were allowed to come out and present their film.

In previous years there have been dozens of people attending from the United States, and of course, many other countries across the world. Fingers crossed, we’ll be welcoming delegates back to the Steel City in the usual fashion come 2022.

So, there it was, DocFest, as we hope never to see it again – but no less enjoyable despite all the changes they had to make. To all the hardworking talent behind the cameras and the scenes, we salute you once more!