Sheffield Doc/Fest
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Beneath the Surface
The Sámi are indigenous to the region formerly known as Lapland (Sápmi) which covers northern areas of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Murmansk Oblast. Like all aboriginal groups, they’ve been subjected to systematic racism, forced indoctrination and other horrific practices over the last few centuries. Today, there are approaching one million Sámi living in Norway …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Mountains and Heaven in Between
While Ukraine is a country with a lot of history, it has come a long way since the collapse of the USSR at the beginning of the 1990s. Before Putin invaded, Kiev and other major cities were fast-becoming modern European metropolises. This was particularly the case in the western half of the country. However, while …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: A Bunch of Amateurs
Filmmaking clubs used to be very popular in most European countries, including the UK. Most cities had one. Made up of enthusiastic amateurs brought together by a shared passion, these societies were formed out of a love of the moving image. Usually made up of a ragtag group of eccentric characters meeting regularly to make …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Electric Malady
It might not be a condition you’ve heard of, and arguments still rage across the medical community about whether it is actually an illness in its own right, but electrosensitivity affects a significant number of people across the globe. We live in an increasingly connected world. Electromagnetic fields are all around us, generated by WIFI, …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Eat Your Catfish
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), aka Motor Neuron Disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is a terrible neurodegenerative condition which eventually leads to the loss of muscle control. There is no known cure. Treatment is aimed at making the patient more comfortable and alleviating the symptoms. Ventilation and feeding tubes can extend life but, in the …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: The Business of Birth Control
When the combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), or birth control pill, was made available for contraceptive purposes at the start of the 1960s it triggered a sexual revolution for women. No longer did they have to rely on a man’s ‘judgement’ and run the risk of pregnancy every time they had sex. This newfound freedom …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: The Happy Worker
Monday morning is a traumatic experience for millions of office workers around the world. Unless you’re one of the very lucky people who get to work in a field you love. Most of us have to suffer the idiocies, stupidities and inhumanities of working to live. Despite current initiatives such as trialling a four-day week, …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review: Boney Piles
While Vladimir Putin might have started his official invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has been at war with its neighbour since 2014. Under the guise of ‘Russian-backed separatists’ he’s slyly attempted to capture the Dombas for the best part of a decade. Although the cameras of the world were pointed elsewhere until the …
Sheffield Doc/Fest 2022 Preview
After a couple of years in an online or hybrid form, Sheffield Doc/Fest once again returns in all its glory to the cinema screens of South Yorkshire on 23-28 June. The UK’s leading documentary festival will once again showcase a thrillingly diverse range of short and feature length films from around the world. Alongside the …
Sheffield Doc/Fest Review – 9/11: One Day in America
I’d argue that we can define modern history as the period before and after September 11th 2001. Anyone waking up on that Tuesday morning would never have believed the events which were about to transpire. The attack on the World Trade Centre was the deadliest on US soil, killing just under 3000 people and injuring …