Sheffield Doc Fest 2011

Activist Films at Sheffield Doc/fest

In the past Sheffield Indymedia has hosted its own fringe documentary film festival alongside the international annual event hosted at the Showroom Cinema. Although we don't have the time and energy for that this year the main event has a number of great looking films of interest to activists, including the première of the new British Film about climate change related direct action, Just Do It and the UK première of If a Tree Falls about the Earth Liberation Front.

There are a number of other films that sound interesting including:

• You've been Trumped (UK, 2011) is about a flamboyant billionaire businessmen who is determined to build the world’s greatest golf coast complete with a massive luxury hotel on one of Britain's very last stretches of wilderness.
• Inside Job (US, 2010) Oscar-winning examination of the causes of the global financial meltdown is destined to become a masterclass on how corruption and greed nearly brought down the world.
• Cinema Palestine (Canada, 2011) explores the life and work of multiple generations of Palestinian filmmakers and media artists.
• Up in Smoke (UK, 2011) is about slash and burn agriculture in rainforests and how one man's solution is to the problem is not being heard. Discussion follows.

Check out the full listing of Protest films at the docfest.

Discussions

Discussions at the festival include a BBC interview with Adam Curtis about his latest documentary, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace on Friday at 2:15pm in the Lyceum Theatre. On Saturday at 9:30am in The Crucible Studio there is a discussion on The Revolution Will Be Tweeted, introduced by Wael Omar of Middle West Films, Egypt and followed by a series of presentations from a range of individuals and groups, including some of the most prolific tweeters, documentary makers and hackers from the recent uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East.

The Sheffield Doc/Fest runs from Wednesday 8th June to Sunday 12th June 2011.