Our 2025 programme just gets bigger and better!
Our exciting new films, talks and panelists include:
Live Aid at 40 – When Rock'N'Roll Took on the World - World Premiere
Trade Secret - World Premiere
Munroe Bergdorf joins The Changemakers with Alice Aedy
BBC Studios Presents: Human – The Untold Story of Our Human Origins with Ella Al-Shamahi
Baff Akoto’s Collateral Echoes Exhibition adds Live Performance & Lived Experience Panel
We're excited to announce new additions to its 32nd edition, including World Premieres of Live Aid at 40 – When Rock'N'Roll Took on the World and Trade Secret, a gripping expose of the polar bear fur trade.
Also included are new panelists and speakers, including activist, writer and model, Munroe Bergdorf, who will join The Changemakers with Alice Aedy, and three new events: BBC Studios Presents: Human – The Untold Story of Our Human Origins with Ella Al-Shamahi and Baff Akoto’s Collateral Echoes – Live Performance and Lived Experience Panel.
For our Industry Programme, we are delighted to welcome Juma Xipaia, Brazilian activist, leader of the Xipaya people, the first woman to serve as chief of the Middle Xingu region and producer of this year’s International Premiere, YANUNI, who will be taking part in the Indigenous Participation Panel.
Raul Niño Zambrano Creative Director of Sheffield DocFest “As a dynamic organization, we’re proud to announce exciting new additions to our film line-up, as well as new names joining our Talks & Sessions. These updates reflect our ongoing commitment to presenting bold, urgent, and diverse voices that spark dialogue and inspire change.”
New additions include:
Live Aid at 40 – When Rock'N'Roll Took on the World (World Premiere)
The story of Bob Geldof’s response to the Ethiopian famine, which prompted a musical event that rocked the world.
Trade Secret (World Premiere)
A gripping exposé of the polar bear fur trade, revealing how conservation, politics and commercial interests collide in ways the public was never meant to see.
The Changemakers with Alice Aedy — to be joined by Munroe Bergdorf
Hosted by renowned filmmaker, campaigner and Nat Geo Explorer, Alice Aedy, meet the visionary women driving real-world change — using storytelling as a tool for awareness, activism and community mobilisation.
BBC Studios Presents: Human – The Untold Story of Our Human Origins with Ella Al-Shamahi
What does it take to tell the greatest story never written down? BBC Studios presents Human, the landmark science documentary that brings our species' untold origin story to life – spanning 300,000 years, at least six human species, and with one extraordinary survivor: us.
Supported by BBC Studios
Baff Akoto’s Collateral Echoes – Live Performances & Lived Experience Panel
As part of award-winning artist Baff Akoto’s solo exhibition Collateral Echoes, Sheffield DocFest and Recurring Dreams present a programme of activity at Site Gallery.
Creatively directed by choreographer & artist Anthea Lewis, musicians and dancers explore rituals of grief and collective energy – humanising the stories of the lives, memories, and potential of Black and immigrant Britons disproportionately killed following police contact since 1969.
For more information click here.
Collateral Echoes - Lived Experience Panel
Join us for a panel made up of Yorkshire families featured in the Collateral Echoes exhibition, who will discuss how they have been affected by the lived experience of bereavement after police contact with their relatives.
For more information click here.
These events are unticketed and free to attend.
DocFest Industry Programme Additions
Impact through Indigenous Participation: Beyond Representation to Agency - to be joined by Juma Xipaia
Supported by Bournemouth University
View event info here.
Please note, access to DocFest Industry Programme events is only possible with an Industry Pass. Festival Passes are on sale here.
Sheffield DocFest is made possible thanks to the support of our partners, funders and sponsors, including Principal Funders BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, Sheffield City Council and Arts Council England.
