The 31st edition of Sheffield DocFest 2024 drew to a close last night with an awards ceremony at Sheffield’s Crucible Playhouse.
This year’s festival saw 48 World Premieres, 14 International Premieres, 17 European Premieres, 28 UK Premieres from 56 countries of production.
The festival, running 12-17 June, saw public attendance rise by more than 20% compared to 2023. International industry attendance also rose with 2,283 delegates from 73 countries attending the six-day festival in person (up from 60 countries in 2023). 179 Industry Representatives from 128 companies and 24 countries took more than 1,031 in-person meetings with 49 selected projects and 16 ‘talents’ over the course of the festival market days.
The festival, in partnership with Showroom Cinema, will continue to engage with the documentary community in Sheffield with the monthly DocNights screening Programme, which is dedicated to championing the work of documentary filmmakers and bringing documentary cinema to audiences all year round.
Other year-round programmes to come in 2024/2025 include the continuation of monthly documentary screening programmes in London and a new programme of regional screenings in preparation for Rotherham Children’s Capital of Culture 2025.
Key 2024 award winers:
- Grand Jury Award for the International Competition – At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking
- Grand Jury Award for the International First Feature Competition – The Boy and the Suit of Lights
- Grand Jury Award for the International Short Film Competition – Flowers
- Tim Hetherington Award – No Other Land
- Youth Jury Award – HAIYU – Rebel Singer Mariem Hassan and the Struggle for a Free Western Sahara
- Grand Jury Award for the International Virtual Reality Competition – Perinatal Dreaming. Understanding Country
- The Three Pitches Announce Fund Recipients – The Whickers Pitch, Channel 4 First Cut Pitch, The Podcast Pitch
- The Al Jazeera Documentary Channel Co-production award for Sheffield DocFest MeetMarket Kikuyu Land supported by Al Jazeera Documentary Channel
