Welcome drinks

To kick off the 22nd Sheffield Doc/Fest, SP took over Tudor Square for our annual welcome drinks reception. The sun was shining, the drinks were kindly sponsored by Pond 5 and there was the sweet scent of pulled pork and baking dough in the air – the perfect setting?

It was great to see founding members and Shooters in the Pub hosts make an appearance, there were so many! It’s so positive to see growth of shooter communities nationally. Also, it’s encouraging to see new people wanting to check us out and learn more about what we do. On that note, what was even more sensational was people actually networking and swapping business cards. These things tend to be super awkward – so to witness that on the first day of Doc/Fest festivities is a win.

If you’re at Sheffield and you’ve clocked us and know who we are – come have a chat, we don’t bite.

The Look of Silence (dir. Joshua Oppenheimer)

Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence was the first opening night event of the fest. A semi-sequel to the acclaimed The Act of Killing, each film works individually and as pair, each narrative working independently of one another and acquiring a deeper meaning when put into context together. Where The Act of Killing focused entirely on the perpetrators, this film is the gut-wrenching confrontation between murderer and survivor. After it’s sensational Doc/Fest reception, The Look of Silence will be hitting UK cinemas on 12 June. Find out more here: www.thelookofsilence.co.uk

The Greatest Shows on Earth: A Century of Vaudeville, Circuses and Carnivals (dir. Benedikt Erlingsson)

An exquisitely edited archival documentary tracking the history of 19th and 20th century circus performers, music halls, freak shows, variety entertainments and fairgrounds, with a sprawling original score by Georg Holm and Orri Pall Dyrason of Sigur Ros, in collaboration with Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson.