The
Sheffield International Documentary Festival, over the last two decades, has become
not only the U.K.’s biggest documentary film festival, but the third
largest doc film festival in the world.

The festival’s 21st edition will run from June 5-10, with an amazing list of
films, including the European premiere of director Jessica Edwards’ doc “Mavis” (about legendary singer Mavis Staples), as well as the European premiere of Stanley Nelson’s stunning documentary, and his best work to date, “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of
the Revolution" (HERE). The film is no
rosy colored romantic look at the organization, but a clear-headed, penetrating examination
of the Panthers – the good and the bad,
what went right and what went so horribly wrong when egos and competing agendas
began to clash, and more, like J. Edgar Hoover’s and the
FBI’s secret covert campaign to destroy them.

The festival will also include a tribute to the late, great documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles,
as well as a retrospective of the works of John Akomfrah ("Handsworth Songs," "The
Nine Muses") who is also a juror for films in competition this year (HERE).

And, once
again, the daylong “Crossover Summit” will take place during the festival on Saturday, June 6, featuring an extensive list of speakers sharing their insights in the
fields of interactive design, production and distribution today.

According to
the description, the summit “intends to
inspire through sharing knowledge on a wide range on the latest advancements in
technology and inform audiences on how these will impact and inform the future
of documentary film making” (HERE).

Among those participating
in the summit will be film programmer Nadia Denton, who will be speaking on “African
Digital,” of which she says, “with over 635 million mobile subscriptions across
Africa, mobile internet is bringing audio-visual interaction into new spaces… [she will] explore developments in apps, gaming and web-series, as well as the
implications this has on developments in digital internationally".

For more
information about the festival, film schedules and tickets go HERE.