Sheffield Doc/Fest is UK’s biggest documentary festival welcoming 32,700+ visitors each year, including more than 3,500 industry professionals from over 60 countries. In addition to the rich and diverse film screening program, the festival offers tons of great events dedicated to the innovation, craft and business of the documentary industry. Attended by many archival producers and researchers, the topic of archive footage use will be featured in the screening program, in addition to several talks. We’ve prepared a quick guide highlighting everything dedicated to archives at this year’s festival.
Craft Summit: The Colourist – Making a Grade Great
Sat 9 June @ 12.00ITV Town Hall – Reception Room A
With technology advancing rapidly, high-resolution has become a basic requirement for any audio-visual content. Color grading is an essential tool for productions, adding quality to content and fulfilling creative purposes. This will be the topic of a panel led by Krishan Arora, international content consultant for Australian public broadcaster SBS Television, who will be speaking with Katherine Jamieson, senior colourist at Halo. Jamieson will explain the different processes and tools involved in her work and will share her vast experience with color grading black and white archive footage.
Live Cinema Summit: Archive and Live Scores
Fri 8 June @ 11.30Netflix Crucible Studio
In previous years, Sheffield Doc/Fest has been a stage for live scores in archive films, including the premieres of compositions by Jarvis Cocker and British Sea Power. Archive releases are increasingly becoming a source of inspiration for musicians. Recently, Asunder (https://vimeo.com/172455605) by Esther Johnson received a live score by Field Music and Warm Digits, and Arcadia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfK5J3kYG9U) by Paul Wright was augmented with a performance by Will Gregory from Goldfrapp and Adrian Utley from Portishead. This panel session will feature Jason Singh performing as a part of Nature’s Nickelodeons, and he will discuss the appeal of the documentary genre for musicians.
Retro/Electric Avenues
Retro/Electric Avenues will offer an opportunity to revisit cult and classic documentaries and discover restored archive footage. A few of the documentaries to be shown include City of Contrasts (1969), a look into cultural influences on the city of Dakar; Cocorico Monsieur Poulet (1974), a story of a three poultry sellers delivering chickens to a market in Niamey; and Secrets from the Street, an examination of the cultures and classes in San Francisco’s Mission District.I
Bonus tip: Check out Arena: Night and Day. This immersive 12-hour experience draws exclusively from the BBC Arena’s rich visual archive on the patterns of day and night.