Sheffield DocFest

It’s official… Our full #SheffDocFest2026 Industry Programme is now LIVE! 💥🎊 🤩 41 Industry Sessions, 4 Live Pitches, a broad range of Marketplace Sessions, the Filmmaker Challenge, Marketplace Rough Cuts, Craft Focus sessions, our brand-new Production Hub and much more! 🔗Explore the full Industry Programme now at the link in our bio! Highlights include: ⚡️ Nevine Mabro, the @bbc ’s new Head of Storyville, and Fiona Campbell, BBC Director of Factual, on the commissioning strategy and enduring importance of the BBC’s award-winning international documentary strand ⚡️ Mandy Chang, CEO of the @docfilmcouncil , and Mark Edwards leading a solutions-led conversation on shaping the future of UK documentary ⚡️ In-depth masterclasses with Academy Award-nominated directors @maitealberdi and @unadosa ⚡️ @channel4 in conversation with Joe Bullman, BAFTA-nominated director of Dirty Business ⚡️ Commissioning editors from 5 discuss the ethical, creative and legal factors behind sensitive, high-stakes storytelling, with a behind-the-scenes look at Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards ⚡️ The co-founders of the @freedomfilmfest on the growing political pressure and shrinking support facing human rights film festivals ⚡️ The filmmakers and subjects of @silenced_film , Filthy and @matinino_film exploring the legal, cultural and systemic forces silencing women across the world ⚡️ Leading documentary makers @senoritaramita , @wafamoustafa and the makers of @birdsofwar.film on how citizen journalism can unlock stories from deadly conflict zones - and at what ethical cost ⚡️ Four live pitches for early career documentary makers: the newly expanded @whickerawards Film & TV Pitch, Channel 4 First Cut Pitch, The @whickerawards Podcast Pitch and the @climate__spring Digital-First Pitch ⚡️ Multi-award-winning filmmaker @alexthomasfilms announced as guest mentor for this year’s Filmmaker Challenge ⚡️ New for 2026: The Production Hub, a showcase for essential service providers powering factual storytelling …and much more! 🔗Explore the full Industry Programme and buy your Festival Pass now - link in our bio!

📢The waiting is over! We’re beyond excited to reveal the full Public Programme for #SheffDocFest2026, ‘Realities In Motion’ in #Sheffield 10-15 June 🌟🫶 🎟️ Tickets are available now! (link in bio) Explore our line-up: ⚡️FILMS: Dive into 80+ features and 24 shorts - 45 World Premieres, 17 International Premieres, 5 European Premieres and 35 UK Premieres from 64 countries of production ⚡️Guest of Honour Maxine Peake @betteblavatsky with curated films, a live reading of Queens of the Coal Age and a performance with The Eccentronic Research Counci ⚡️TALKS: Hear from special guests including: 🤩 Rose Ayling-Ellis @rose.a.e on putting sign language front & centre in storytelling 🤩 Norma Percy on the making of Brexit: How Britain Voted Out, 10 years on from the vote 🤩Behind the Scenes: Educating Yorkshire reunion + many, many more, including our already announced first launch events! ⚡️PODCASTS: Live podcast events including @bbcradio4 ’s Dead Rabbit with Chris Packham and an exclusive Audible launch with Charlie Webster @charliewebster ⚡️ALTERNATE REALITIES: Gaming multi-worlds and immersive storytelling collide - including Sheffield of Stories, a collaborative Minecraft project ⚡️NEW FOR 2026 - GEN DOCFEST: Our brand new family strand expands with events featuring @hannahstitfall , @sambrownex and so much more for young documentary lovers Explore the full programme now at the link in our bio 🔗☝️ #SheffDocFest26 #RealitiesInMotion #DocumentaryFestival

SHEFFIELD DOCFEST 2026: FIRST LAUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT 🎬 We’re delighted to announce the first programme highlights for Sheffield DocFest 2026, under this year’s programme title ‘Realities in Motion’! 📢 Maxine Peake is our Guest of Honour, curating her own strand and leading a vital conversation on working class representation and concepts of ‘Britishness’ 📢 Miriam Margolyes makes her DocFest debut, reflecting on truth-telling across her long career 📢 Oscar-winning director Andrea Arnold offers a rare insight into her creative process 📢 Chris Packham reflects on his career-defining programmes in conversation with the BBC 📢 A one-off celebration of Sir David Attenborough at 100 brings together leading filmmakers and activists to reflect on an extraordinary legacy 📢 PLUS: introducing GEN DocFest, a brand new strand for families, and its first event ‘A Thoroughly Horrible Morning’, featuring the cast of Horrible Histories and Horrible Science 📅 10 - 15 June, Sheffield TICKETS 🎟️ Our Members pre-sale is live now for 24 hours (until 09:59 BST tomorrow) Become a Member now to access our pre-sale (link in bio) 🎟️ General sale opens at 10AM BST tomorrow (Thursday 9 April) - via the link in bio This is just the beginning - our full programme will be launched later this month! Let us know who are you most excited to see at Sheffield DocFest this year! 👇 In partnership with: @britishfilminstitute @visitsheffield @aceagrams Image credits Top left: Paul Husband / Jennifer Charlton Centre: Craig Fleming Top right: Supplied by Zinc Middle right: Susannah Baker-Smith Bottom right: Supplied by BBC Bottom left: Supplied by BBC Middle left: Supplied by BBC Studios

⭐️ Selected teams announced for this year’s Storytelling in Gaming: Challenge Lab! In order to support early career, independent creatives or those with ideas in very early stages, this year’s Alternate Realities programme will host a three-day Storytelling in Gaming: Challenge Lab, in strategic partnership with @sheffhallamuni and supported by the @britisharts . 🌎 After a global public call out, we are delighted to announce the five selected teams who will take part in the Challenge Lab. The five teams include international participants from Kenya and India, as well as from closer to home in Yorkshire. The projects they will work on explore wide ranging themes and narratives, taking in long-distance connections, local folklore, marginalised voices, Indian cinema and the ethical dilemmas of driving an ice cream van! The teams will use a variety of gaming platforms to explore innovative ways to involve the player in an interactive experience, driven by a narrative storyline. Each team will develop a prototype within a structured, supportive setting over 11th and 12 June, before experiencing their work in a 360° immersive suite. They will then present to an industry panel at the Alternate Realities Summit on Saturday 13 June for constructive feedback and have the opportunity to network with attending professionals. 👉 Read more about the teams and events at our news article - click the link in our bio! + Also announced: free immersive video installations by Hallam artist-researchers in the Igloo 360 space during Sheffield DocFest - exploring climate, nature, resilience & Sheffield's hidden histories

We’re super excited to announce our full top shortlisted entries to design a 100th birthday card for David Attenborough - in line with our celebration of his incredible milestone at the festival this year 🥹 These designs were selected by filmmaker, climate activist and National Geographic Explorer @aliceaedy ! Why not take a swipe and check out these amazing works of art from young people all across South Yorkshire - who will all receive two tickets to our GEN DocFest children & family programme events this year! 👏 A huge well done to everyone who entered! 🎟️ Sheffield DocFest tickets - link in our bio! 👉 Our special talk, ‘Sir David Attenborough at 100: A Living Legacy’ takes place at Sheffield DocFest this year on 13 June and features amazing guests including Chris Packham, @gordonbuchanan_wildlife , Dominique Palmer, @birdnerdeem and @lizziedalywild ! 👉 Explore our GEN DocFest children’s & family programme - new for this year, and packed with amazing events for all ages!

We're raising money to make DocFest accessible to everyone: by providing free cinema tickets, transport, and refreshments to people with low or no income in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire 10 years ago, we created Door to Doc because we felt that ticket prices and transport costs shouldn't stop people from accessing film festivals. Now, we're hoping to raise as much as possible to reach our goal of helping over 200 people attend DocFest - some for their first time. In this video, watch Sara from our local advisory group explain how this will help. Can you help? Find out more or make a donation by heading to the link in our bio. Just tap ‘Donate to our Door to Doc fundraiser’ 🫶

We’re incredibly excited to launch our brand new Production Hub! It’s a dedicated platform designed to spotlight the companies, people, and providers powering factual film and TV👇 As one of our Production Hub partners, you’ll receive: 👀 A stall in our venue with a footfall of over 2000 industry delegates 📽️ Direct access to world-renowned producers, filmmakers, and decision-makers 🤝 International networking and global visibility … And your branding on our festival banners, website, cinemas too! Don’t miss your chance to be at the centre of the action: email [email protected] to secure your spot today 💛

Nature lovers! We’ve got the wonderful wildlife presenter, author and filmmaker Hannah Stitfall joining us this June to host an action-packed family-friendly talk 🫶 Part of our GEN DocFest programme for families and young people, Hannah will reveal nature’s funniest, craziest and cutest animals from around the world 🥹 She’ll also share some crazy animal stories from her career, stunning visuals she’s taken and some fun interactive games too… So if you’re interested in exploring behind-the-scenes secrets of life as a wildlife filmmaker and zoologist, this event is for you! Head to the link in our bio to get your tickets 👆 #SheffDocFest2026

🚨 We need to talk about the costs of making a documentary film 🚨 That's why The Whickers created the ‘Cost of Docs’ survey: to shine a light on the challenges documentary filmmakers are REALLY facing during the cost-of-living crisis, and in the midst of global conflicts. The survey takes just 25 minutes to complete and is available in English, Spanish and Arabic, to reach as many documentary storytellers as possible. Want to help change the industry? The Whickers are hosting a webinar this Friday at 12:30 (BST) to explain how you can take part👇 Plus, by taking part you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win: 🎟️ 2 Full Industry Passes to @sheffdocfest 2027 📱 A SMASH Media Pro Account Head to the link in our bio to sign up today and make your voice heard. #SheffDocFest2026

Podcast lover? Our 2026 Podcast Stories Programme showcases some of the most exciting voices in audio documentary… 🐇 BBC Radio 4's Dead Rabbit with Chris Packham: A new BBC podcast exposing organised crime in the British countryside. 🎧 Audible Original Series Launch with Charlie Webster: An immersive first listen with award-winning journalist Charlie Webster. 👂 Cinema for the Ears: A unique outdoor sonic adventure at Sheffield Amphitheatre. 💌 BBC Radio 4's Dear Gilbert, Dear Gordon: Exclusive listening session for this forthcoming podcast about a century-old gay love story 🌍 10 Years of Radio Atlas: A special tenth birthday screening of English-subtitled audio docs from around the world from the 1970s to 2025, curated by Eleanor McDowall 🖋️ Rewriting the Narrative: An innovative new podcast that asks: What if you could rewrite the story of your own life? 🛣️ The Road to Redemption Man: A first listen of The Whickers Podcast Pitch 2025 winner Find out more or get your tickets now by heading to the link in our bio! #SheffDocFest2026

✨ Join us later in May for two special screenings of Runa Simi, directed by @a.gusto_ and winner of the Youth Jury Award at Sheffield DocFest 2025! Fernando, an indigenous voice actor, goes on a quest to dub The Lion King into Quechua, pushing the boundaries set by Hollywood. 🎟️🔗Grab your tickets now! 👉 Monday 25 May: @showroom_cinema , Sheffield (18:00 BST) 👉 Tuesday 26 May: @berthadochouse , London - followed by a virtual Q&A with director Augusto Zegarra (18:20 BST) Fernando, a single-parent, is a voice actor from Cusco. He became a viral sensation for dubbing animated clips into Quechua, an endangered language, yet the most spoken indigenous dialect in South America. His actions engage with wider issues regarding transmission, identity and fatherhood, and in doing so they push him to dream even bigger – to dub The Lion King into his native language. Fernando’s story is a reminder that access to entertainment is a privilege, too often taken for granted in an era when platforms like Disney offer countless language and subtitling options to make content accessible to ‘all’. This joyful and engaging film highlights how meaningful it is to transform a language of the oppressed into a language of power.

We are honoured to be welcoming Maxine Peake @betteblavatsky to Sheffield DocFest 2026 as our Guest of Honour ❤️ A proud Northerner with an extraordinary body of work spanning stage and screen, Maxine embodies a fearless intelligence and deep social consciousness. Her presence perfectly reflects the bold, thoughtful storytelling at the heart of Sheffield DocFest. 🎟️ Grab tickets to her wonderful programme events on Saturday 13th-Sunday 14th June now, via the link in our bio! 👉 For her curated film programme, Maxine has selected two powerful archival works, The Wanted 18 and Nightcleaners, alongside the highly anticipated world premiere of The Archivist 👉 Beyond the screen, Maxine will join filmmaker @paulsng1 for a talk exploring the representation of working-class voices in an age of populism 👉 She will also lead a live reading of her play ‘Queens of the Coal Age’, centred on the 1993 Parkside Colliery occupation - a poignant portrait of working-class resistance with enduring relevance today 👉 Finally, Maxine will join Sheffield-based band @eccentronic_research_council for a live performance of The Dreamcatcher Tapes 🎟️ Tickets to her Guest of Honour programme events are selling fast - grab yours now via the link in our bio!