Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Doc/Fest >> 2012 >> Shorts

Sheffield DocFest 2012

Find out for yourself if it's true what they say - that the best documentaries come in small packages.

View other Sheffield DocFest Films by strand: Behind The Beats, Best Of British, BFI, China Now, Cross Platform, Euro Doc, First Cut, Global Encounters, Howard Street Screen, Queer Screen, Resistance, Retrospective: Dziga Vertov, The Habit Of Art, This Sporting Life

The Honor Code The Honor Code
The Honor Code and The Globe Collector
Ala-Too (Country: Kyrgyzstan; Year: 2012; Director: Chingiz Narynov)
We are on the central square of Bishkek, the capital of the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, with its soldiers keeping watch, its street sellers and its families out on the town - a scene of daily life in a country that is only twenty years old. From time to time, the square witnesses revolutions. Nearly two years ago, dozens of demonstrators and passers-by were killed, in the hope of a better life.
Ali - The Student Revolutionary (Country: UK; Year: 2011; Director: Fil Kaler)
Ali was a student in Manchester when a nationwide rebellion broke out in his native Libya. He headed back home to take up the fight – and soon found himself holding a gun for the first time, determined to do his part to end 42 years of misery for his people.
All Hail The Beat (Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Nelson George)
Marvin Gaye used it to craft Sexual Healing. Its affordability turned a generation of kids around the world into pioneering musicians, and the genres of house, techno and electro wouldn’t exist without it. Yet most of the producers who use its sound have never seen the Roland TR-808 drum machine...
Blames & Flames (Falgoosh) (Country: Iran; Year: 2011; Director: Mohammadreza Farzad)
The history of the Iranian revolution as the history of cinema.
Burmese Butterfly (Country: Myanmar, Germany; Year: 2011; Director: Hnin Ei Hlaing; Stars: Phyo Lay)
A young transgender women talks about the flowering of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in her country.
Fabalous (Country: UK; Year: 2012; Director: Ed Emsley)
In his flat, filled to the ceiling with the artefacts of his life, Michael J. Howells tells us his story. When he’s not caring for his cat or his MS-stricken wife, he returns to his art, determined to keep depression at bay.
The Globe Collector (Country: Australia; Year: 2012; Director: Summer DeRoche; Stars: Andrew Pullen)
Meet Andrew and his amazing collection of lamps.
Full Review
The Honor Code (The Honour Code) (Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Katy Chevigny)
An animated exploration of the tradition of honour killing, asking how it might be brought to an end.
Full Review
If It Weren't For You (Als ik jou niet had) (Country: Netherlands; Year: 2011; Director: Anne-Marieke Graafmans)
In their old rusty campervan, a couple from Amsterdam seek warmth and comfort, away from the pain and sorrow that marks their home.
The Love Competition (Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Brent Hoff)
At Stanford University’s first annual love competition, no touching is allowed. It’s all in the mind for the contestants, as they spend five minutes in an MRI machine thinking about their nearest and dearest...and trying to trigger the most neurochemical activity.
Maya Deren's Sink (Year: 2011; Director: Barbara Hammer)
This evocative experimental film pays tribute to Maya Deren, the mother of avant-guard American film. In a kaleidoscope approach, director Barbara Hammer layers many images with recreations of scenes from Deren’s films, projected into the homes where they were originally filmed.
MES (Country: UK; Year: 2011; Director: Ian Gamester)
Cath Gamester has quite a story to tell. When her GP puts her on anti-depressants, she soon finds her waking hours accompanied by a surreal musical choir, as she recounts in this delightful short documentary made by her grandson, Ian.
Mostar (Country: UK; Year: 2011; Director: Josh Bamford, Sebastian Feehan)
The most fought over city in the Bosnian war, Mostar remains home to Nedzad Kasumovic. He was a shopkeeper with a young family when the conflict began; twenty years on he looks back on the war that was fought on his doorstep.
My Neighbourhood (Country: Israel, Palestine, United States; Year: 2012; Director: Julia Bacha, Rebekah Wingert-Jabi)
“My father built that house and an Israeli judge came and closed it.” Angry young Mohommed lost his innocence when his family’s home was violently taken over by Israeli settlers. But support for their plight comes from an unlikely corner: Israelis, horrified at what is being done in their name.
No Regrets (Country: UK; Year: 2012; Director: Jim Smith)
Voluntarily signing up for the armed forces seemed like a good idea at the time to Max Woods. Now back from Afghanistan, having seen a lot at a young age that he really shouldn’t have, he and his friends tell us how the experience has impacted everyone’s lives.
One Breath - The Story of William Trubridge (Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Nicolas Rossier)
It looks simple: you hold your breath and go as deep into the water as you can. But as William Trubridge has learned, triumphing in the dangerous world of free diving is all about mind over matter.
Paint the Way (Country: UK; Year: 2012; Director: Josh Bamford, Sebastian Feehan)
A Saudi artist haunts the streets of her once beautiful neighbourhood in Jeddah – where the collapsed, neglected buildings give little testimony to those who once lived there. Spraying her graffiti and then quickly running away, she watches reactions from afar.
Paradise (Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Nadav Kurtz)
Every day they take their lives in their hands in the Windy City – by cleaning the windows of Chicago’s skyscrapers. As they go about their jobs, invisible to the middle class workers on the inside, three Mexican window cleaners reveal their thoughts about life and death.
A Place We Call Home (Naslaitynas) (Country: Lithuania, Estonia; Year: 2012; Director: Albina Griniute)
It’s a dog’s life, in the biggest no-kill animal shelter in Lithuania – an old abandoned house in the centre of Vilnius. Like a nursery school, the daily routines of meals, play and rest are familiar to the dogs, who are all dependent on the loving care of their human volunteers.
Saloon (Country: UK; Year: 2011; Director: Tom Pietrasik)
This beautiful short doc pays tribute to the mecca of male pampering that is the Indian barbershop. Beyond the windows of the saloon, male barbers work their magic on their customers, in very public displays of grooming and preening.
Sassie's Gran (Country: UK; Year: 2011; Director: Derville Quigley)
Once she got over the shock, Belfast native Jean wasn’t too surprised when her grandson Scott came out – after all, he’d always liked dressing in her clothes and jewellery. In this warm hearted short film, their story is told through still images.
Solar Roadways (Country: United States; Year: 2012; Director: Michele Ohayon)
Half think they’re geniuses, half think they’re crazy. You can decide for yourself as you learn about Idaho couple Scott and Julie’s big idea: Why not use the highways in America to make solar powered roadways that will move us away from coal dependence?
This Life That Chose Me (Country: UK; Year: 2011; Director: Chloe White)
Bea, Carol and Jenny grew up as men, but experienced from early on the certainty that they were trapped in the wrong body. Each tells about her transformational journey from an unhappy male to the middle-aged woman we see today.
Tripoli Stories | Graffiti (Country: UK, Libya; Year: 2012; Director: Anas El Gomati, Ibrahim El Mayet)
“In every spray of the can you feel a part of your emotion is released from inside of you, to the wall to the people.”  After the Revolution, long suppressed feelings are appearing on building walls in Tripoli.
The War Next Door (Country: UK; Year: 2012; Director: Ferdinand Haberl)
Follow director Ferdinand Haberl to Tunisia, where hordes of Libyan refugees have fled, as the end nears for Muammar Ghaddafi. Haberl finds himself on a bizarre and cynical journey, caught in the middle of a hopeless humanitarian aid mission, random superstars and 100,000 suffering people ignored by the media.
We Were Here (Country: Australia; Year: 2011; Director: Amy Gebhardt)
Invited to upload their experiences of summer 2011, Australians responded in droves. Through their footage, director Amy Gebhardt tells the story of a nation enjoying its downtime – and suffering at the hands of Mother Nature. An exuberant, colourful, communal portrait of Australia.
Where Is My Mind (Country: UK; Year: 2012; Director: Martin Ginestie)
A letter through his postbox informs 42-year-old Lee Gilliland that he has been classed as “lacking mental capacity” and will lose most of his rights, including the right to decide where he lives. Lee is determined not to go without a fight, and barricades himself inside his home.
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