Sheffield Doc/Fest 2017...
Explosion of Creativity in Storytelling Triggers Groundswell Movement for Resistance & Change at Sheffield Doc/Fest
- Opening Night Film Announced: World Premiere of Daisy Asquith’s Queerama With Performance from John Grant;
- Alternate Realities World Premiere: WikiLeaks: A Love Story;
- Peter Greenaway in Talks & Sessions Reveals Details of his New Martin Luther Documentary;
- Films: Strong Island and Whose Streets Examines Race in America Today;
- Film retrospective: 1967: Summer of Love and Disobedience.
Sheffield Doc/Fest is delighted to announce details of the Festival programme, taking place 9-14 June 2017. To mark 50 years since the Sexual Offences Act, the Opening Night film at City Hall, Sheffield is the world premiere of Daisy Asquith’s documentary Queerama followed by a live performance from singer songwriter John Grant. Created from the treasure trove of the BFI National Archive Queerama captures the relationships, desires, fears and expressions of gay men and women starting in 1919 - weaved with the lyrics and music of John Grant and Hercules & Love Affair. Queerama’s producer Catryn Ramasut was a recent recipient of a BFI Vision Award to develop and expand her ambitious slate of productions. Queerama is produced with the support of BBC Storyville, Ffilm Cymru Wales and the BFI.
Fifty years since the Summer of Love, the Festival will explore rule-breaking and boundary- pushing artists who are creatively and politically forging new movements for Resistance & Change in 2017: in Alternate Realities, the Festival’s platform for digital and interactive innovation, emerging British artist Anna Ridler will present the world premiere of WikiLeaks: A Love Story; in Talks & Sessions the Festival will for the first time welcome maverick game-changer Peter Greenaway CBE; in the Film programme filmmakers Yance Ford (Strong Island) and Damon Davis and Sabaah Folayan (Whose Streets), have individually made unflinching examinations of race in America today. And also looking back 50 years, this year’s retrospective will focus on 1967: Summer of Love and Disobedience including the Festival coup of a very rare screening of Silent Revolution / Black Liberation, Edouard (Yves) de Laurot’s lost masterpiece of the civil rights movement featuring Malcolm X and narrated by Ossie Davis.
Says Liz McIntyre, CEO and Festival Director, “We’re stepping into the early scenes of a tragicomic new world story. This year at Doc/Fest we have our most urgent and loudest call to action to join the groundswell movements of Resistance & Change where we celebrate those who disobey and resist to shape the future global narrative.’’
In her interactive installation, Wikileaks: A Love Story, the emerging British artist Anna Ridler explores the conflict between issues of privacy versus public interest, which are at the heart of Wikileaks. Using an iPad, augmented reality uncovers an unlikely story of love in the workplace from a trail of 10,000 pages of leaked official government documents.
Celebrated for pushing cinematic boundaries and flouting convention, acclaimed British director, screenwriter and artist, Peter Greenaway CBE, is widely regarded as one of the most original and important innovators of our time. Greenaway comes to Sheffield Doc/Fest for the first time to discuss his early, current and future work, including documentary about the life of the German theologian and religious reformist Martin Luther, marking 500 years since the Reformation, and to explore the forms that art takes when responding to social, cultural and political changes and examine where next for storytelling forms.
The Film programme will also present the UK premiere of filmmaker Yance Ford’s powerful and deeply personal documentary Strong Island about the senseless death of his brother, and the European premiere of Damon Davis and Sabaah Folayan’s Whose Streets about political protests in Ferguson.
The 1967: Summer of Love and Disobedience retrospective captures the international zeitgeist of the year. Among the eight works all made in 1967 are: Canadian filmmaker Allan King’s controversial feature length debut Warrendale, a cinéma vérité study of the lives of twelve emotionally disturbed children; despite winning awards at Cannes, it was never subsequently shown on the commissioning broadcaster CBC Television as King refused to edit the strong language. Revolutionary French New Wave filmmakers’ contempt for the Vietnam War is demonstrated in the portmanteau film Far From Vietnam which was produced by the inimitable Chris Marker and made by Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Agnès Varda, Joris Ivens, William Klein and Claude Lelouch. Peter Whitehead’s Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London takes us to the heart of ‘67 via a series of psychedelic interviews and live performance by Pink Floyd and a cast of ‘Swinging London’ musicians and actors.
Listings:
Queerama with Performance from John Grant (World Premiere)
Opening Night Film and Performance
Venue: City Hall
Date: Friday 9 June
Time: 19.00
Tickets on sale: Tuesday 18 April
WikiLeaks: A Love Story (World Premiere)
As part of Alternate Realities
Venue: Millennium Gallery
Date: 9-14 June 2017
Times: 12.00-17.00 Daily
Cost: Free
Peter Greenaway CBE: Where Next for Storytelling?
As part of Talks & Sessions
Venue: Crucible Studio
Date: Sunday 11 June
Time: 18:30 – 19:45
Tickets go on sale: Thursday 6 April
Strong Island (UK Premiere)
As part of Film Programme
Venue: Showroom 4
Date: 11th June
Time: 21:30
Tickets go on sale: Thursday 6 April
Whose Streets (European Premiere)
As part of Film Programme
Venue: Showroom 4
Date: 12th June
Time: 21.15
Tickets go on sale: Thursday 6 April
1967: Summer of Love and Disobedience retrospective:
Silent Revolution / Black Liberation
Venue: Showroom 2
Date: Saturday 10 June
Time: 10.00
Tickets go on sale: Thursday 6 April
Warrendale
Venue: Curzon 1
Date: Monday 12 June
Time: 21.00
Tickets go on sale: Thursday 6 April
Far From Vietnam
Venue: Showroom 1
Date: Tuesday 13 June
Time: 09.15
Tickets go on sale: Thursday 6 April
Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London
Venue: Curzon 1
Date: Saturday 10 June
Time: 21.00
Tickets are available to buy in person from the Showroom Box Office or over the phone on 03301228870. You can also purchase tickets online at https://sheffdocfest.tickets.red61.com . For any access bookings or general enquiries please e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Please note all tickets purchased online or over the phone are subject to a 10% Booking Fee.