All Posts Tagged With: "sheffield doc fest"

iW: Sheffield Doc/Fest: Born Again and Joining Forces

November 13th, 2008 • Agnes Varnum • Comments Off • Related Posts • Tags

The Sheffield Doc/Fest in Sheffield, just wound up its fifteenth incarnation, yet the air of it feels new, emerging, and in a way, it is. Director Heather Croall took over three years ago and under her leadership, this five-day event is expanding its horizons and gunning to be one of the top international documentary festivals. Croall said, “I feel like this year we really got into gear, our organization is better than ever.” Evidenced by the energy and good will present despite the damp November weather, it is well on its way. Read the rest of my coverage from Sheffield>>

SDF 08: BLAST!

November 12th, 2008 • Agnes Varnum • Comments Off • Related Posts • Tags

It was with great pleasure that I was finally able to catch up with Paul Devlin’s BLAST! at Sheffield. Paul brought the project to as a work-in-progress in 2006 and being a bit of a geek myself, I was looking forward to seeing the finished work.

SDF 08: Thriller in Manilla

November 6th, 2008 • Agnes Varnum • Comments Off • Related Posts • Tags

A sports fan, I am not. And to boot, I have a very low opinion of boxing. But, I was ready for Thriller in Manila because I know very little about Muhammad Ali and even less about his famous fights with Joe Frazier—the central focus of this excellent film by John Dower.

Let the Doc/Fest Commence

November 5th, 2008 • Agnes Varnum • 1 comment • Related Posts • Tags

I’m sitting in the now-empty, soon-to-be-full press room (view from the window at right) at this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest, which begins officially opens tonight with Thriller in Manilla. It is a long journey from Austin, Texas to Sheffield, but as usual, I had my share of adventures that I can muse on later. Of course, I was sad to be leaving the States on the cusp of such an important election, but I was able to vote early so I could leave knowing I had done my part. Jet lag worked in my favor because I kept waking up in the middle of the night to check the results. I must have been feeling the American vibe because I woke up at about 4:30 AM just in time to see the speeches. I’ve been tearing up all morning with the enormity of it, but Obama’s win is such a major relief! Now I can sit back and enjoy the festival.

I haven’t figured out my schedule yet, but I have a list of films to check out and Q&As to moderate, so I’ll be busy. I’ll post when I can.

Sheffield Doc/Fest

October 25th, 2008 • Agnes Varnum • 5 comments • Related Posts • Tags

I’m tickled to report that I will be heading off to in a couple of weeks for the Sheffield Doc/Fest from November 5 - 9. Sheffield is heading into its 15th year, helmed by Heather Croall (since 2006), who came to the fest from the Australia International Documentary Conference. She has a wonderful ebullient energy and I’m so excited to have the chance to see what she and her team are doing. The festival opens with John Dower’s Thiller in Manilla, “For the first time Joe Frazier and his corner, including his trainer and his son, recount their version of his 1975 fight with Muhammad Ali – now considered to be the greatest boxing match in history.” There will be 140 shorts and features:

This year the strands will be Regime Change, Green Docs, Bent Docs, The Return of the Anti-Doc, Sports Docs and Music Docs, with the addition of two new strands, Arts Docs and Kinky Docs: a celebration of sex and its representation in documentary.

Let me know if you will be attending so we can be sure to meet up. If not, I’ll let you know how it goes!