SHEFFIELD DOC/FEST TO MOVE TO JUNE IN 2011
Sheffield Doc/Fest has announced that the Festival will move to June in 2011. This year’s Doc/Fest will take place from 3-7 November but it’s all change next year when the Festival will from 8-12 June.
Sheffield Doc/Fest is one of the world’s most important festivals for documentary. It is a film festival, a world class conference on documentary and digital media and the biggest media industry marketplace in the UK. Sheffield Doc/Fest attracts hundreds of delegates from the UK and the world and presents films and masterclasses from some of the most inspirational documentary makers from across the globe.
Now in its 17th year, Sheffield Doc/Fest has grown to become the UK’s premier documentary film events. It is the place to see world and UK premieres of the best creative documentaries from the cinema, television and online arenas, and to hear from and meet filmmakers at Q&A sessions.
Chair of Sheffield Doc/Fest Steve Hewlett says of the decision to move the Festival to June in 2011.
“Sheffield Doc/Fest has undergone something of a step-change in the last four years since Heather Croall became Festival Director but there’s a bit of a pile-up of European documentary festivals in the autumn so after much consideration we’ve decided to move to June. This move will allow more inventive programming, more public outreach and allow us to improve our offering and enable us to work more effectively with other creative organisations in Sheffield. Britain is the home of documentary film and Sheffield Doc/Fest will take its place among the best documentary festivals in the world”.
The programme for the 2010 festival already boasts a handful of top festival hitters. Doug Block’s ‘The Kids Grow Up’, his follow up to his acclaimed ‘51 Birch Street’, which premiered at Hot Docs; Jeff Malmberg’s multi award-winning ‘Marwencol’ (Grand Jury Prize: Seattle International Film Festival, Grand Jury Award: South by Southwest Film Festival, among others); Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing’s ‘12th and Delaware’ was nominated at Sundance for the Grand Jury Prize; Tyler Measom and Jennilyn Merten’s ‘Sons of Perdition’ won the Director’s Award at the Telluride Mountain Festival. Also among early titles confirmed are strong UK docs from Marc and Nick Francis (‘When China Met Africa’), David Sington (‘The Flaw’) and Penny Woolcock (‘On The Streets’).
Heather Croall says of the Festival and move to June,
“The thing people love about Sheffield Doc/Fest is its boutique feel and the fact that it’s very democratic. People come here knowing they will see the best new docs, meet the right people and if they’re in MeetMarket*, make a deal. I’m very excited about moving to June – it’ll bring some new and exciting developments to the Festival – watch this space!”.
* MeetMarket is the pitching initiative at Sheffield Doc/Fest, designed to match documentary makers’ most innovative project ideas with UK and international buyers.
Delegate passes for Doc/Fest 2010, 3-7 November are now on sale.
http://sheffdocfest.com/registration