perspicacity: Documentary Film

Watergate, Aleppo & Facebook

Richard Nield — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:26:55 GMT

Continuing my short series about the most impactful documentaries I've seen during a decade of attending Sheffield International Documentary Festival (DocFest), this week's article focuses exclusively on the exceptional films showcased in 2019.

As mentioned in the first post in the series, the nature of my own journalism work steers my choices towards do…

Frontline Journalism, Doping in Russian Sports, Nuclear Arms

Richard Nield — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 11:40:53 GMT

This year was the 10th anniversary of my first visit to Sheffield DocFest, the city’s world-renowned documentary film festival. With two festivals missed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was the ninth DocFest I’ve attended.

Occasionally I have a moment of doubt as to whether I’ll make it to the following year’s festival. But once there I find myself wond…

Ukraine's Frontline, US Prison Abuses & an Infamous War Photo

Richard Nield — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 11:31:04 GMT

I’m on the train to Sheffield for DocFest 2026, the latest edition of the city’s world-renowned documentary film festival. So what better time to revisit five of the standout films I saw at last year's festival.

DocFest 2025 was one of the strongest documentary programmes I’ve seen in a decade of annual pilgrimages to Sheffield.

For me, the festival was d…