Sheffield DocFest turns 31 this year, and it’s still the UK's documentary heavyweight – the place where you'll spot next year's must-watch docs before they hit cinemas or streaming platforms.
And this year’s fest is delivering hope-filled stories from war zones in Ukraine and Gaza, bizarrely brilliant dating experiments from North Korea and China, plus fresh voices from the festival’s jury selection. Here are five from the newly-announced 2025 line-up to watch out for.
Still Pushing Pineapples
Festival opener Still Pushing Pineapples promises uplift and good vibes in abundance. The title refers to Dean Michael, the British singer of yesteryear pop outfit Black Lace, best remembered for ’80s hit Agadoo. With his glory days behind him, the film follows Michael’s comeback bid as he embarks on a road trip with his mother and partner. A road movie with a few things to say about pop culture, it’ll be absolutely nothing like all those gushing-but-dull vanity docs about legendary musicians.
North South Man Woman
There are a couple of dating documentary on this year’s slate, including China’s The Dating Game (about a bootcamp of rich Chinese bachelors seeking a suitable wife) and this South Korean film. Filmed over five years, it follows Yujin Han, a North Korean expat who started her own dating agency matchmaking North Korean women with eligible South Korean bachelors. This could be DocFest’s answer to Celine Song’s Materialists.
Red Light to Limelight
This Bengali-language Indian doc offers a fresh perspective on sex work in a deeply conservative society. Set in the red-light district of Kolkata, Bipujit Basu’s film follows sex workers moonlighting as amateur filmmakers. From picking up editing tricks through online tutorials to navigating their personal hardships through the language of film, they attempt to break the cycle of forced prostitution for the next generation. Most docs on sex workers tend to be framed from an exploitative or fetishising lens; this one humanises its subjects as professionals and budding artists.
Runa Simi
Competing for the Youth Jury prize is Augusto Zegarra’s Runa Simi, a Quechua-Spanish statement of linguistic rebellion. While Quechua is the most spoken indigenous dialect in South America, it remains an endangered language in the face of Spanish’s prevalence. Runa Simi is centered around Peruvian indigenous voice actor Fernando, who makes it his mission to dub The Lion King in Quechua. The Disney classic has been dubbed in 28 languages, but for Fernando, localising it becomes a desperate pursuit, making Runa Simi an unconventional underdog story.
2000 Meters To Andriivka
This year’s line-up includes several doc set amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, including Cuba & Alaska, which follows two medics in the line of conflict, and A Simple Soldier, which captures a filmmaker’s transformation into a soldier after 2022. Particularly hype-worthy is 2000 Meters to Andriivka, a follow-up to director Mstyslav Chernov’s Oscar-winning effort 20 Days in Mariupol. The film follows a Ukrainian platoon liberating the Russian-occupied village of Andriivka. But instead of any chest-thumping military jingoism, Chernov and journalist Alex Babenko follow a more nuanced and multi-layered approach to war and its underlying pressure.
When does the 2025 Sheffield DocFest take place?
The festival runs for six days from June 18 to June 23. Head to the official site for tickets and further info.
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