Doc/Fest announces opening and closing films

Summer Of Soul (Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised to kick-off edition

by Amber Wilkinson

Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Photo: Mass Distraction Media

Sheffield Doc/Fest has announced it will open with the European premiere of Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson's Summer of Soul (...Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) on June 4 and close with Mark Cousins' The Story Of Looking on June 12. This year's festival will feature physical screenings and online streaming.

Summer of Soul, which had its world premiere at Sundance, is a celebratory look at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, while Cousins' film proposes a re-evaluation of the world's complexities and beauty.

Cousins said: “We're honoured to premiere our film on the closing night of Sheffield's acclaimed Doc/Fest. We hope it will send audiences and delegates back out into the world with hearts aglow and fresh eyes.”

Festival Director, Cíntia Gil added, “We wanted to open and close with films that spoke to our programme and to what Sheffield Doc/Fest stands for, and to inspire our audiences after a very difficult time. These films have helped us imagine our programme along the winter lockdown months, and will hopefully add to the joy of coming together again to share life and film before the Summer blooms.”

The festival, which will focus its retrospective on Black British screen culture this year, also announced four additional titles: The Return: Life After Isis, Minimata Mandala, Carlos Ghosn: The Last Flight and Alvorado Palace.

The full programme will be announced on May 12.

Share this with others on...
News

Somewhere over the rainbow Arco director on how he managed to follow his dream with help from Natalie Portman

A place to belong Liam O Mochain on anthology filmmaking, hidden stories and making Abode

Bear necessities Jack Weisman and Gabriel Osio Vanden on working together and making naivety work for them in Nuisance Bear

In ascension Isaac 'Drift' Wright and Deon Taylor on climbing, spiritual development and Drift

Looking back Kei Ishikawa on memory, ambiguity and A Pale View Of Hills

Bearing witness Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman on balance and perspectives in Nuisance Bear

More news and features

We're currently bringing you news, reviews and more direct from BFI Flare and SXSW.



We're looking forward to Fantaspoa.



We've recently brought you coverage of the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, the NY Rendezvous with French Cinema, the Glasgow Film Festival, the Berlinale, Sundance and Palm Springs.



Read our full for more.


Visit our festivals section.

Interact

Don't forget that you can follow us on YouTube for trailers of festival films and more. You can also find us on Mastodon and Bluesky.

It's a busy time for festivals and here's the latest from the spring events:

GSFF 19th edition opens in Glasgow with Downriver A Tiger

Cannes Barbra Streisand to receive honorary Palme d'Or

Thessaloniki Golden Alexanders announced

Cannes Honorary Palme d'Or to be presented to Peter Jackson

Cannes Park Chan-Wook named as Jury head