Frontline Journalism, Doping in Russian Sports, Nuclear Arms
10 years of extraordinary documentary films - Part 1 (2016-2018)
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 wondering how I could have contemplated missing it.
Many of the documentaries the festival has showcased over the years - usually world, UK or international premieres - are among my favourite films. Every year I learn about a new part of the world, a new issue, a new way of looking at things.
In a series of articles over the coming weeks, I’ll share with you what for me were the most compelling films at the festival each year, starting with 2016-2018.
The nature of my work means my choices tend to focus on documentaries that deal with human rights issues, conflict, frontline journalism, and state corruption - but for each year I’ll also recommend a film or two that’s slightly different.
2016: James Foley & Kirsten Johnson
The most memorable film for me at my first ‘Sheffield’ was the deeply affecting Jim: The James Foley Story, about the photojournalist who at the age of 40 became the first US citizen executed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The film was made by Jim’s childhood friend, Brian Oakes, and features moving interviews with Jim’s friends, family, colleagues and fellow hostages, alongside the story of how he was captured and imprisoned first in Libya and later, by ISIS, in Syria.
Jim was passionate and courageous; but more than anything, this film is about his humanity, his generosity, and his kindness.
Watch the trailer
Another stand-out film from DocFest 2016 was the fascinating Cameraperson by Kirsten Johnson, which provides a refreshing perspective on documentary filmmaking - from behind the camera.
Cameraperson tells the personal story of Johnson’s 25-year career as a cinematographer, working on impactful and hugely successful films such as the Oscar-winning Citizenfour - in which Edward Snowden exposed illegal US government surveillance - and Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, about the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
I also remember Michael Moore warning at the festival of the likelihood that the UK’s referendum on EU membership a few days later would return a ‘Leave’ decision, and that Donald Trump would win the US presidency in November that year…
And for something different:
My Scientology Movie (John Dower) - an exposé of the secretive and controversial Church of Scientology written by and starring Louis Theroux
2017: Russian sports doping & nuclear arms
The stand-out film for me in 2017 was the Oscar-winning Icarus. The film starts out as a bid by director Bryan Fogel, a keen amateur cyclist, to expose the limitations of the sport’s anti-doping system.
In doing so, Fogel stumbles upon a sporting scandal of epic proportions: a former head of Russia's national anti-doping laboratory confesses his complicity in alleged drug test manipulation at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi - at which Russia won 13 gold medals.
Even now, Russia remains banned from Olympic sport as investigations into state doping allegations continue.
DocFest 2017 also featured Eric Schlosser’s The Bomb, a hypnotising meditation on humanity’s obsession with weapons of mass destruction.
Screened at Sheffield’s state-of-the-art cinema The Light, the film captures the power and beauty of nuclear explosions in a way that is uncomfortably compelling.
Also worthy of mention from 2017 are Risk (Laura Poitras), a close-up portrait of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange; and The Force (Peter Nicks), about misconduct and attempted reforms in the Oakland Police department.
And for something different:
Whitney “Can I Be Me” (Nick Broomfield) - about the music industry’s manipulation of the supremely talented Whitney Houston
2018: Frontline journalism & war crimes
This year’s outstanding film was Chris Martin’s Under the Wire, another devastating story of a journalist killed while reporting. This time, the tragedy was that of the indomitable US frontline reporter Marie Colvin.
The film tells the story of what turned out to be a deadly mission to Syria by Colvin - a war correspondent for the UK’s The Sunday Times newspaper - and freelance photographer Paul Conroy, to cover the plight of civilians trapped in the city of Homs.
It was February 2012, the second of what was to be a three-year siege of Homs in response to anti-regime protests in the city. Homs was under relentless bombardment by the Syrian army, including what were described by Colvin as "absolutely sickening" indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
The festival also featured The Congo Tribunal (Milo Rau), a remarkable film that brought attention to an often-neglected conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has claimed more than 6 million lives.
The film project assembled witnesses, perpetrators and analysts for a three-day civil tribunal in front of a panel of experts to examine the atrocities that were carried out with impunity over more than two decades.
And for something different:
McQueen (Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui) - a revealing documentary about the magnetic personality and troubled life of fashion designer Alexander McQueen
People’s Republic of Desire (Hao Wu) - a story of the personal fallout from becoming a streaming sensation in China
The next article in this series features the mind-blowing story of the first moon landing, an epic film about the Watergate scandal, and the chilling story of voter manipulation using Facebook data in the year of Brexit and Trump’s first election…
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