SHEFFIELD DOCFEST
Sheffield DocFest is back for its 33rd edition from 10th - 15th June 2026, and this year’s theme, Realities in Motion, features shifting states, unstable narratives and the way reality gets reframed depending on who’s telling the story.
The thing I’m most excited about this year is the music side of the programme. Last years A History of Sound was a real highlight is for me. There’s a real sense of experimentation running through it. Guest curator Maxine Peake has a collaboration with Sheffield’s own Eccentronic Research Council on The Dreamcatcher Tapes, which already sounds like one of those slightly uncanny, dreamlike live shows DocFest does so well. That thread continues in the music docs too - especially Wolf, a fragmented portrait of Patrick Wolf narrated by Tilda Swinton alongside other films in the programme. It feels like a year where the boundaries between gig, film and installation are getting deliberately blurred.
The talks programme has a really strong lineup, with Miriam Margolyes and Chris Packham both appearing across the week, plus a dedicated event looking at the legacy of David Attenborough.
The film programme opens with We, The Hated by Rich Felgate, following Just Stop Oil activists over several years and staying really close to the human cost of long-term protest.
What I like about this year’s selection more broadly is how often it moves away from straightforward “talking heads” documentary. Films like Anatomy of a Portrait lean into memory and identity in a more abstract way, while The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist plays with essay form and uncertainty around technology and the future. Even The Alien Autopsy Scandal - which revisits one of those bizarre media hoaxes that refuses to fade - sounds less like a true crime-style retelling and more like a film about belief, attention and how stories take on a life of their own.
There are multiple pricing options across the public programme, from single tickets to passes, so it’s easy to dip in or go all in.
Tickets are available at the link below.
Lee Herring writing for The Public House Brand @ Primeband
About The Public House Brand :
Events organiser and interviewer operating in Sheffield / Nottingham, the programmer of Spirit of Independence festival 2025, 2026 at the Light, Sheffield. Reviewer of films, film events and festivals for various local publications.
https://tickets.sheffdocfest.com/booking-information
Sheffield DocFest is back for its 33rd edition from 10th - 15th June 2026, and this year’s theme, Realities in Motion, features shifting states, unstable narratives and the way reality gets reframed depending on who’s telling the story.
The thing I’m most excited about this year is the music side of the programme. Last years A History of Sound was a real highlight is for me. There’s a real sense of experimentation running through it. Guest curator Maxine Peake has a collaboration with Sheffield’s own Eccentronic Research Council on The Dreamcatcher Tapes, which already sounds like one of those slightly uncanny, dreamlike live shows DocFest does so well. That thread continues in the music docs too - especially Wolf, a fragmented portrait of Patrick Wolf narrated by Tilda Swinton alongside other films in the programme. It feels like a year where the boundaries between gig, film and installation are getting deliberately blurred.
The talks programme has a really strong lineup, with Miriam Margolyes and Chris Packham both appearing across the week, plus a dedicated event looking at the legacy of David Attenborough.
The film programme opens with We, The Hated by Rich Felgate, following Just Stop Oil activists over several years and staying really close to the human cost of long-term protest.
What I like about this year’s selection more broadly is how often it moves away from straightforward “talking heads” documentary. Films like Anatomy of a Portrait lean into memory and identity in a more abstract way, while The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist plays with essay form and uncertainty around technology and the future. Even The Alien Autopsy Scandal - which revisits one of those bizarre media hoaxes that refuses to fade - sounds less like a true crime-style retelling and more like a film about belief, attention and how stories take on a life of their own.
There are multiple pricing options across the public programme, from single tickets to passes, so it’s easy to dip in or go all in.
Tickets are available at the link below.
Lee Herring writing for The Public House Brand @ Primeband
About The Public House Brand :
Events organiser and interviewer operating in Sheffield / Nottingham, the programmer of Spirit of Independence festival 2025, 2026 at the Light, Sheffield. Reviewer of films, film events and festivals for various local publications.
https://tickets.sheffdocfest.com/booking-information
Prime UK Band Photos from Mulberry Tavern, Sheffield 2017.
