A Sheffield-based charity that runs the UK's largest documentary festival, begun in 1994, and year-round labs and workshops for documentary makers.
Sheffield DocFest, formerly written Sheffield Doc/Fest, is an international documentary festival and industry meeting place held in Sheffield every year. Wikipedia describes it as the UK's largest documentary festival. Screenings take place at more than 20 venues around the city, including the Light Cinema, Sheffield Town Hall and Sheffield City Hall. As well as films, it runs MeetMarket, where filmmakers pitch ideas to funders and distributors, and Alternate Realities, a strand covering interactive, immersive and virtual-reality documentary. Year-round it runs workshops, labs and mentoring.
The festival was founded in 1993 by the Showroom Cinema and Sheffield Council to give British documentary makers a place to discuss their craft, and the first festival ran for eight days in March 1994. BBC producer Peter Symes is credited with conceiving it in 1990. For 26 years it was part of a charity that runs the Showroom Workstation. It became an independent registered charity in October 2019. It says it is committed to "freedom, social engagement and collective development of the arts", and it works to broaden audiences with community screenings and reduced-rate tickets.
DocFest is rooted in Sheffield, and the Showroom Cinema remains its delegate centre. The festival says it draws up to 3,500 industry delegates and about 30,000 public visitors from around 60 countries in a typical year, based on a report from 2019 to 2020. Its 2025 film programme had 116 films selected from more than 2,753 entries. Mimi Poskitt became managing director in February 2024 and Raul Nino Zambrano is creative director. The festival also works in other parts of the UK and internationally through its labs and mentoring.
On culture, the leadership has changed several times, which shows a festival that regularly renews itself. Heather Croall led it until 2015 and is credited with turning it around, and Cintia Gil, who moved from Portugal where she had directed Doclisboa, was festival director from 2019 to 2021. The organisation now uses a joint-leadership model of a managing director and a creative director, introduced under interim chief executive Clare Stewart. Its stated values of access and social engagement show in the reduced-rate tickets and community screenings.
A documentary festival needs a mix of year-round and seasonal staff: programmers and film selectors, producers and events managers, industry and delegate teams, marketing and press officers, fundraisers and technical crew. It can suit people interested in film, journalism, events or the arts. The festival's website lists current opportunities.
Website: sheffdocfest.com
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