SHEFFIELDDOC/FEST CASE STUDY
Bing Liu’s Doc Audience Award-winning Minding the Gap depicts the challenges of three young men over their decade-long friendship. This idea of significance in retrospect gave filmmakers in the audience pause for thought on their own historical content. Holly Cocker, co-director of production company Mark Three Media said “ Generation Wealth definitely made us think about our own archiving and whether or not we should be revisiting some of our subjects…We do keep everything because you never knowwhat you might need.” Having attended the festival since 2010, Holly is a regular but she felt this year’s festival was exemplary. “It was the best I’ve seen. The location choices were more accessible, it was really well run and the volunteers were especially knowledgeable.” While Holly’s production company was too busy to be pitching this
Numerous other filmmakers expressed similar feelings; they’re opting for modern cameras to benefit from increased dynamic range but they don’t always want a hyper-polished final result as this can undermine the credibility of the story. The optical flaws and coatings of old glass are increasingly being employed to fabricate a more ‘real’ aesthetic. Archiving This theme of ‘old is new’ didn’t stop with lenses either. There was a distinct pattern of popular films at this year’s festival which had a personal retrospective element to them. In photographer Lauren Greenfield’s Generational Wealth she revisits her own shots and subjects over the past 25 years, Sandi Tan’s Shirkers sees the long lost footage of a film she shot in her youth come back into her possession and
“When you use new lenses, sometimes it just becomes too sharp” year they have pitched at previous Mini MeetMarket sessions at the festival. She said: “The pitches are a main part of the festival but even just attending drinks and socials gives you a chance to get to know commissioners. It’s amazing to be able to get together with like-minded filmmakers and see so many great films. It’s a really important festival for us.” The stars of the show Sean McAllister’s A Northern Soul was the festival’s opening night film and was
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AUTUMN 2018 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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