Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival (Doc/Fest) is delighted to announce the film line-up for 2008. The acclaimed festival, which runs from 5-9 November, will boast more than 100 films from the hottest directors from around the world.
This year, the festival will embrace the excitement of the US presidential elections with a series of films on Regime Change: documentaries that explore the effects of a shift of power. Following on from the success of last year, Doc/Fest 08 will also be repeating its Green, Bent, Anti Doc, Sports and Music strands. And new for this year is Kinky Docs: a celebration of sex and its representation in documentary, while Doc/Fest’s retrospective of Japanese documentary classics will also continue in 2008, specially curated by Mark Cousins.
Films for 2008 are:
12 NOTES DOWN
Andrea Koefoed / Denmark / 26 mins / Music Doc
This film explores the struggle faced by Jorgis, the star of the choir, when his voice breaks.
24 HOUR CITY
Jia Zhang Ke / China /107 mins
The story of a state owned factory turned complex of luxury apartments in Chengdu, China.
500 FACES
Massood Khan / UK / 50 mins
Khan tracks down Osamas throughout the world, reclaiming the name and forming a funny and interactive documentary.
AMBULANTS
Daniel Gonzalez / UK / 21 mins / Student Doc
The story of Marcal and Otila, two of the 200,000 workers who live by selling wares on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro.
ARCTIC MONKEYS
Richard Ayoade / UK / 75 mins / Music Doc
A complete performance of the Arctic Monkeys’ last tour date at the famed Manchester Apollo.
AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
Dan Stone (attending festival) / USA / 90 mins / Green Doc / TIFF Focus
The story of the impassioned volunteers of the Sea Shepherd’s Campaign, who take to the seas in dubious vessels to challenge a Japanese whaling fleet.
AUNTIE NIECEY
Jim Morgan/ UK / 5 mins / Student Doc
A portrait of Denise who struggles for motherhood twenty years after being told she can never have children.
BARCELONA OR DIE
Idrissa Guiro/ France / Senegal / 52 mins
A look at the fishermen of Thiaroye in Senegal, who risk their lives aboard illegal boat trips to Europe in search of a better life.
BEING FRANK
Jacob Kjaer Pederson/ Denmark / 32 mins / Student Doc
A portrait of former Military Intelligence officer Frank, who faces imprisonment and public shame after exposing his government’s doubts about the Iraqi weapons programme.
BEYOND OUR KEN
Luke Walker and Melissa Maclean/ Australia / EU Premiere / 88mins
A behind-the-scenes look at Australian ‘secretive cult’ Kenja.
BINGAI
Feng Yan/ China / UK Premiere / 114 mins
The story of how a strong-willed female subsistence farmer functions under stifling government controls in China.
BLAST!
Paul Devlin (attending festival) / USA / UK Premiere / Green Doc
Blast! tracks a team of astrophysicists from the Arctic to Antarctic as they launch a revolutionary telescope on a NASA high altitude balloon.
BLOOD TRAIL
Richard Parry (attending festival) / UK / 80 mins / TIFF FOCUS
Fifteen years in the making, Blood Trail offers an intimate portrait of Robert King, one of the world’s best war photographers.
BULLETPROOF SALESMAN
Michael Tucker, (attending festival) Petra Epperlein (attending festival) / USA / UK Premiere / 70mins / Regime Change Doc
The story of a German salesman who risks his life selling bulletproof vehicles in post-Saddam Iraq.
CALLING HOME
Marcelo Starobinas and Maria Andrade / Scotland / 12 mins / Scottish Doc
A portrait of a calling centre and the stories of the tourists, new immigrants, locals and regulars who open their hearts on the phone to loved ones.
CAT DANCERS
USA / 90 mins
The comical and horrifying tale of Joy and Ron Holiday, acclaimed ballet partners turned exotic cat trainers who have built a career in Florida coaxing tigers to do extraordinary tricks.
CHOSEN
Brian woods (attending festival) / UK / 96 mins
Three men who suffered sexual abuse at public school break their thirty year silence and tell their stories straight to camera.
CHRISTMAS WITH DAD
Conor McCormack / Scotland / 12 mins / Scottish Doc
A portrait of 23 year old AJ who prepares for the festive season and the arrival of his eighth child.
CHUNGKING DREAMS
Jean-Louis Schuller / UK / 25 mins
A portrait of immigrant life squashed and squeezed into Chungking Mansions in the heart of Hong Kong.
COLD WAVES
Alexandru Solomon (attending festival) / Romania / 108 mins
A behind the scenes look at Ceausescu’s violent attempts to shut down Radio Free Broadcast, which illegally broadcasted music and pro-democracy propaganda in 1980s Romania.
CORRIDOR #8
Boris Despodov (attending festival) / Bulgaria / UK Premiere / 74 mins
A mosaic film combining fragments from the everyday lives of the characters that live along a non-existent Balkan road.
CYANOSIS
Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami / Iran / 32 mins / Student Doc
Portrayal of the career and love life of Iranian street painter Jamshid Aminfar.
DEVOTION
Barbara Hammer / USA / 82 mins / Ogawa Retro
The story of Ogawa Productions.
DOMINICK DUNNE: AFTER THE PARTY
Kirsty de Garis and Timothy Jolley (attending festival) / Australia / EU Premiere / 84 Mins
A biography of Hollywood insider turned notorious crime writer Dominick Dunne.
DREAM RIDERS
Bill Roulston (attending festival) / USA / 85 mins / World Prem
The story of estranged father and son Bill and Nico who set out to cycle across the USA in an attempt to mend their broken relationship.
DREZNICA
Anna Azevedo / Brazil / 14 mins
A lyrical and visually inspiring journey through the image sensations and dreams of the blind.
ENTRENCHED ABUSE; FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA
USA / 30 mins
A rare look into the oppressive Burmese regime, where the junta forces ethnic minorities to build roads, construct fences and act as human minesweepers.
EVERYTHING IS RELEATIVE
Mikala Krogh (attending festival) / Denmark / UK / 75 mins / Anti Doc
An exploration of how our reactions to life are relative to the conditions that guide our individual lives.
EXAMINED LIFE
Astra Taylor (attending festival) / Canada / 87 Mins / TIFF FOCUS
Some of the greatest thinkers of our modern times ponder life through a favoured philosophical technique: the simple stroll.
FENCE
Toshi Fujiwara (attending festival) / Japan / World Premier / 160mins
A portrait of the villagers of the Ikego area, which has been under the control of the Japanese and US Navies since the 1930s.
FILMAKING AND THE WAY TO THE VILLAGE.
Fukuda Katsuhiko / 1973/ 54 mins / Japanese Doc
A previously unreleased portrait of Ogawa Productions.
FLICKER
Nik Sheenan (attending festival) / Canada / UK Premiere / 75 mins / Music Doc
A journey into the life of Brion Gysin, inventor of the dream machine, which aimed to give a ‘drugless high’.
FLOW: FOR THE LOVE OF WATER
Irena Salina / USA / France / UK Premiere / 90 mins / Green Doc
Flow charts the precarious relationship between water and human beings from an environmental and political perspective.
FRONTRUNNERS
Caroline Suh (attending festival) / USA / UK Premiere / 80 mins / Regime Change Doc / Grierson:Sheffield Youth Jury
Frontrunners follows a group of students vying for the role of Class President at America’s best high school.
FULL BATTLE RATTLE
Tony Gerber (attending festival) and Jess Moss / USA / UK Premiere / 85 mins / Regime Change
An exploration of a billion dollar Iraq warfare simulation in California’s Mojave Desert.
GABRIEL BYRNE – STORIES FROM HOME
Pat Collins / Ireland / UK Premiere / 75 mins
A poetic and lyrical portrait of a man who, through his life and career, exists in self-imposed exile.
GOLESHOVO
Illian Metev / UK / 34 mins / Student Doc
A portrait of a small Bulgarian village which, out of touch with the outside world, belongs to a time long past.
GOTH CRUISE
52 mins / UK
A hilarious trip inside a cruise ship where the majority of passengers subscribe to being ‘Goths’.
GROUND FLOOR RIGHT
Marlene Schiött Rasmussen / UK / 6 mins
A portrait of a Londoner who shares his flat with one hundred winged inhabitants.
HEART
Amy Gerbhardt / Australia / 30 mins / Bent Doc
A portrait of eccentric musicians Jacqui and Rose, who, after being tempestuous lovers for 17 years, return to where they met to begin a new piece of work.
HERE’S JOHNNY
Kat Mansoor, Will Hood and Adam Lavis (all attending festival) / UK / UK Premiere / 52 mins / Arts Doc
Here’s Johnny enters the surreal world of renowned graphic artist Johnny Hicklenton who is battling against Multiple Sclerosis.
HOME
Clare Fowler / UK / Palestine / World Premiere / 30 mins
A look at Beit Iska, an Arab village in occupied Palestine, which is fenced in by two Israeli settlements.
I DREAM OF VARIETY
Luke Sewell / UK / 25 mins / Student Doc
The story of Jo, who invested £10,000 of her own money into the dilapidated Radford Variety Club.
IN A DREAM
Jeremiah Zagar (attending festival) / USA / EU Premiere / Arts Doc/ 80 mins
In a Dream follows obsessive and narcisstic artist Isaiah Zagar, whose life and marriage falls apart following an affair.
IOUSA
Patrick Creadon (attending festival) / USA / 87 mins
Iousa follows US Comptroller General David Walker as he attempts to let Americans know the truth about the US’s nine trillion dollar national debt.
IT’S ALWAYS LATE FOR FREEDOM
Mehrdad Oskouei (attending festival) / Iran / UK Premiere / 53 mins / Grierson:Sheffield Youth Jury
An intimate portrait of three teenage boys in the Tehran House of Correction.
JAPAN A STORY OF LOVE AND HATE
Sean McAllister (attending festival) / UK / Japan / World Premiere / 70 mins
A love story of survival in the world’s second richest economy.
JESUS LOVES YOU
Robert Cibis, (attending festival) Lilian Franck, (attending festival) Michaela Kirst and Matthias Luthardt / Germany / USA / UK Premiere / 80 mins / Sports Doc
Jesus Loves You follows members of Youth with a Mission who travel to the World Cup in Germany to share the Gospel with football fans.
JUNIOR
Isabelle Lavigne and Stephane Thibault (attending festival) / Canada / UK Premiere / 80mins / Grierson:Sheffield Youth Jury
A behind the scenes look at the hyper competitive environment of youth hockey.
LEE KERN’S JACKANORIES
Lee Kern / UK / 26 mins / Anti Doc / World Prem
An exploration into the mind of a schizophrenic, through a collection of interviews, music and amplified notes delivered only through sound, with no vision.
LES BRAVES
Alain Cavalier / France 2007 & 2008 / UK Premiere / 30 mins (x2)
Two 30 minute direct interviews with veterans from the Algerian war who struggle with their consciences.
LETTER TO ANNA
Eric Bergkraut / Switzerland / UK Premiere / 90 mins
An exploration of the 2006 murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovsyka.
LIFE AFTER THE FALL
Kasim Abid / UK / Iraq / 100 mins / Regime Change
Four years after the fall of Saddam Hussain in Iraq, Abid returns to record the effects of the war on his family.
LITTLE LOST DAVID
Virginia Heath / UK / 15 mins / Music Doc
A portrait of David Roch – Sheffield’s fastest rising music star.
MA BAR
Finlay Pretsell and Andrain McDowall / 11 mins /Sports Doc / Scottish Doc
A portrait of 73 year old bench presser Bill McFayden, who is determined to be Scotland’s champion.
MAN ON WIRE
James Marsh (attending festival) / UK / 90 mins
The story of Philippe Petit, a young tight-rope walker who crosses the space between the World Trade Centre buildings in 1974.
MARINA AND SASHA, COAL SHIPPERS
Ivette Loecker (attending festival) / Austria / International Premiere / 30mins
The story of two Russian sailors who look forward to the ice-free season on Lake Baikal, where they transport coal on their barge.
MARIO AND NINI
Chloe Ruthven (attending festival) / UK / 60 mins
A seven year portrait of two cheeky misbehaving school boys who grow up to be labeled ‘migrants’, ‘troubled kids’ and ‘thugs’ as they graduate into gang and criminal life on London’s streets.
MEE AND MY DAD
Lorne Kramer / UK / 30 mins / Student Doc
The story of Lorne who flies to Thailand to meet the father he has not seen since he was sixteen.
MEGUNICA
Lorenzo Fonda (attending festival / Italy / UK Premiere / 80 mins / Grierson:Sheffield Youth Jury
Portrait of Blu, one of the most sought-after street artists in the world.
MISS LANDMINE
Katherine Churcher / UK / 3 mins
A journey with landmine victims in Angola as they participate in the inaugural Miss Landmine beauty pageant.
MR. RAKOWSKI
Jan Dienderen / Netherlands / 77 mins / UK Prem
Mr. Rakowski explores the strained relationship between Sam and his son Richie, and how they bond over telling the histories of their personal struggles.
MY MOTHER’S GARDEN
Cynthia Lester / USA / UK Premiere / 67 mins
The story of Eugenia Lester whose hoarding disorder has entered a life threatening stage.
NO MANIFESTO
Elizabeth Marcus / USA / 90 mins / Music Doc
A verité-multimedia-documentary-experiment-work-in-progress of the Manic Street Preachers.
A NORTHERN TOWN
Rachel Landers (attending festival / Australia / International Premiere / 75 mins
The story of the indigenous owned age care facility in Kempsey – known as the ‘most racist town in Australia’.
OF TIME AND CITY
Terrance Davies (attending festival) / UK / 75 mins / TIFF Focus
A poetic verbal account of Davies’ early life in Liverpool set to footage of the city.
ORDER OF MYTHS
Margaret Brown (attending festival) / USA / English Premiere / 80 mins /Grierson:Sheffield Youth Jury
The story of America’s oldest (and still segregated) Mardi Gras.
OUTLAWED: EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION, TORTURE AND DISAPPEARANCE IN THE ‘WAR ON TERROR’
USA /30 mins
Stark firsthand accounts of the practice of extraordinary rendition and its associated torture.
PATRASCHE: A DOG OF FLANDERS
An Van Dienderen and Didier Mentat (attending festival) / Belgium / Japan / 85 mins
The story of the 19th century children’s book that inspired dozens of Hollywood films, comics, tour groups and a Japanese TV series.
PATRIA MIA
Duska Zagorac (attending festival) / UK / 52 mins
A look at the large Chinese community in Zagorac’s native Bosnia.
PEACE WITH SEALS
Miloslav Novak (attending festival) / Czech Rep / Anti-Doc
A light hearted look at why the seal has disappeared from the Mediterranean.
PRL DE LUXE
Edyta Wroblewska / Poland / 15 mins
An exploration into the alternative tourist trail of Cracow: Nowa Huta, a model for a communist city.
PRODIGAL SONS
Kimberly Reed (attending festival) / USA / 87 mins / Bent Doc
The story of transsexual Kimberly who returns to her mid-western hometown to make amends with her mentally ill brother – who has just learnt his real grandparents are Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles.
RADIO HEADS
Adam Gutch and Chi-Li Shewring / UK / 3 mins
Lonely listeners tune in to radio talkback shows and share their version of life and the world.
RED OIL
Lucinda Broadbent (attending festival) / Scotland / 52 mins
An exploration of the enormous influence Venezuela’s oil company exerts on the national government through the eyes of former soap opera actress turned company executive Marie.
SANRIZUKA – HETA VILLAGE
Shinsuke Ogawa / 1973 / 146 mins /Ogawa Retro
The story of Japanese villagers whose lives are turned upside down when a large airport is built nearby.
SEAVIEW
Paul Rowley and Nicky Gogan (both attending festival) / Ireland/ UK Premiere / 82 mins
A portrait of a former Butlins holiday camp on the Irish coast that is now a centre for Asylum Seekers.
SECOND SKIN
Juan Carlos Piñeiro (attending festival) / USA / English Premiere / 95 mins
An intimate and disturbing look at computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by Massively Multiplayer Online games.
SHADOW OF THE HOLY BOOK
Arto Halonen (attending festival) / Finland /UK Premiere / 90 mins / Regime Change Doc
Examination into how international companies are helping translate a government propaganda book in Turkmenistan in return for contractual favours.
SLEEP FURIOUSLY
Gideon Koppel (attending festival) / UK / 94 mins
A poetic insight into the lives of the mid-Wales farming community in Trefeurig.
SMOKING WITH THE HAWK
Kim Flitcroft/ UK / 25 mins
A portrait of pool impresario, hawk trainer, machete fighter and general Chesterfield hard-man, Clyde.
SOLO
Jennifer Peedom, David Michod / Australia / EU Premiere / 75 mins / Sports Doc
The fatal journey of an Australian man who set out to sail across the Tasman sea in a Kayak.
SPRINTERS
Sam Blair / UK / 17 mins / Student Doc / Sports Doc
A meditative and visual portrayal of the frequently brutal world of top level athletics.
STANDING START
Finlay Pretsell and Adrian McDowall / UK / 13 mins / Sports Doc
A portrait of world champion cyclist Craig MacLean as he prepares for the world cup race.
SUDDENLY LAST WINTER
Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi (attending festival) / Italy / UK Premiere / 80 mins / Bent Doc / Grierson:Sheffield Youth Jury
An exploration of the heated debate over legislation to give equal rights to same sex couples in Italy.
THE BETRAYAL
Ellen Kuras (attending festival) and Thavisouk Phrasavath / USA / 90 mins
23 years in the making, The Betrayal follows a family caught in the Vietnam war.
THE BIGGEST CHINESE RESTAURANT IN THE WORLD
Weijun Chen / China / 70 mins / TIFF Focus
A behind-the-scenes look at the West Lake restaurant whose 1000 staff and 300 chefs feed up to 5000 people at a time.
THE ENEMY WITHIN
Joe Bullman (attending festival / UK / 60 mins
An enquiry into what it really means to be a terrorist in the UK.
THE FIRST DAY
Hannah Skrinnar (attending festival) / UK / 11 mins
A portrait of Gali, a Romani girl from Slovakia, whose family has moved to Sheffield so she is not placed in a special school for mentally disabled children.
THE HUNT FOR MOBY DICK
Adam Low (attending festival) / UK / 88 mins
The lore and legend of Moby Dick is opened up to new interpretations by an exquisite examination of the mythical main character: the whale.
THE JAZZ BARONESS
Hannah Rothschild (attending festival) / UK / World Premiere / 90 mins / Music Doc / Arts Doc
The story of English born Baroness who supported jazz greats, including Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins.
THE KING OF SOUTH SHEILDS
Tina Gharavi (attending festival) / UK / 24 mins / Sports Doc
A portrait of the British Muslim men and women who attended Muhammad Ali’s marriage in South Shields and how it has affected the Yemeni community that resides there.
THE NEW 10 COMMANDMENTS
Kenny Glenaan, Douglas Gordon, Nick Higgins, Irvine Welsh, Mark Cousins, Sana Bilgrami, Alice Nelson, Tilda Swinton, Doug Aubrey, David Graham Scott and Anna Jones / Scotland / England Premiere / 105 mins / Scottish Doc
An amazing lineup of filmmakers mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
THE SOLITARY LIFE OF CRANES
Eva Webber (attending festival) / UK / 30 mins
A mesmerizing insight into the secret view of the world seen by crane drivers.
THE STORM BID
Tariq Marbaan / Germany / 37 mins / Music Doc
A portrait of 60 year old composer Zâher Howeida, who created a new form of Afghan music in the 1960s and now lives in exile in Germany.
THE TAILOR
Oscar Perez / Spain / 30 mins
A portrait of a Pakistani tailor and his illegal Indian employee in Barcelona’s Raval district.
THRILLER IN MANILLA
John Dower (attending festival) / UK / 90 mins / Sports Doc / Grierson:Sheffield Youth Jury
Joe Frazier’s account of his 1975 fight with Muhammad Ali – now considered the greatest boxing match in history.
VEIL
Thomas A Ostbye / Norway / 6 mins
A camera nestled beneath a burka captures the anxiety and near terror in the faces of ordinary people in a Norwegian shopping centre.
WE ARE WIZARDS
Josh Koury (attending festival) / USA / UK Premiere / 79 mins
A portrait of the real-life wizarding community spawned by the Harry Potter books.
WORLDREVOLUTION
Klaus Hundsbichler (attending festival) / Austria / UK Premiere / 91 mins / Music Doc
The story of Stefan Weber and his Viennese cult band Drahdiwaberl.
ZONED IN
Daniela Zanzotto (attending festival) / UK / USA / UK Premiere / 90 mins
The remarkable journey of Daniel from a Bronx High School to a Ivy League University and his determination to return to the Bronx to teach.
Z32
Avi Mograbi / Israel / 81 mins
By partially concealing the faces of Iraqi army members with animated masks, Mograbi entices frank confessions of violence against innocent Palestinians.
VERY YOUNG GIRLS
David Schisgall (attending festival) / USA / 83 mins
This eye-opening film explores the issue of endemic underage
prostitution in the US, as teenage prostitutes relate how they were
groomed, coerced and manhandled by pimps at a brutally young age.
RENE
Helena Třeštíkova / Czech Rep/ UK Premiere /90 mins
A portrait of Misanthropic, intelligent and introspective Rene, whose struggles to stay away from a life of crime in the quickly changing Czech Republic.
Chatelin Bruno 
