These are some of the documentaries with a strong political content. Of course there's more to see on our website 
https://sheffdocfest.com. Tickets are £5, £4 cons. and available at the Showroom.
https://sheffdocfest.com. Tickets are £5, £4 cons. and available at the Showroom.
Guerrilla Girl
Guerrilla Girl
Bom Bali, Stephen Westh, Australia / UK, 2006, 96mins,
World Premiere
The Brook Lapping/Electric Pictures drama-documentary Bom Bali is one of the most ambitious films yet made about a modern terror attack. Featuring intense testimonies from perpetrators, victims and rescuers alike, the film sets out to recreate but also understand both the immediate and lasting effects of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. The film also attempts to deal with the most sensitive questions of grief and forgiveness. In one memorable scene a leader of Bali's Islamic community comforts the daughter of a victim of the blast, itself an eloquent testimony to the fact that the bombers' principal aim (to build what they called "a ravine of hate" between communities) was unfulfilled.
Fri 3 November 14:00 Showroom 5, producers will attend this screening.
Dear Father, Quiet, We're Shooting - David Benchetrit, Israel, 2005, 75mins, UK Premiere
This timely documentary looks at the flowering of Israel’s conscientous objection movement during its lengthy war with Lebanon. Soldiers and officers who ultimately refused to take part speak frankly about their experiences and the scars they carry from the conflict that so routinely took civilian lives. How, asks a pilot, can you drop a one-ton bomb in a populated area for a “targeted assasination” and not be conscious that innocent civilians will die? Thu 2 November 18:45 Showroom 4 / Fri 3 November 11:30 Showroom 2. Filmmaker will attend the screenings.
Guerrilla Girl - Frank Piasecki Poulsen, Denmark, 2005, 92mins,
UK Premiere
Isabel is 21 years old, beautiful, and university-educated, with a boyfriend and loving parents. She’s also one of the newest recruits of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Filmmakers Frank Pousen and Johannes Jensen gained unprecedented access inside a FARC training camp deep in the Amazonian jungle to follow Isabel and her fellow recruits. Urban Isabel is ill-prepared for her new persona, but she has no choice but to adapt. A brilliant documentary, bringing some understanding to the workings of one of the world’s largest and most active rebel armies. Fri 3 November 13:45 Showroom 2 / Sun 5 November 20:15 Showroom 4
Hacking Democracy - Simon Ardizzone & Russell Michaels, UK, 2006, 80mins, World Premiere Grandmother Bev Harris became obsessed with investigating electronic voting systems after she learned how much secrecy they are allowed to operate under. When Harris decides to spot-check the recent votes in Velutia County Florida she finds staff tossing out voting records. Ardizzone and Michaels’ eye-opening film shows that electronic voting systems are making a mockery out of the already-beleaguered state of democracy in America. Tue 31 October 20:30 Showroom 4 / Sat 4 November 09:30 Showroom 3. Filmmakers will attend the screenings.
The Hands Of Che Guevara - Peter de Kock, The Netherlands, 2006, 59mins, International Premiere www.lasmanosdecheguevara.com
In 1997 the body of Che Guevara was unearthed under a runway in Bolivia. With this discovery the last mystery of his life and death seemed to be resolved. Except for one thing: his hands were missing. The search for the severed hands leads us to a number of remarkable people and leaves us wondering just who is telling the truth? Fri 3 November 20:30 Showroom 4 / Sat 4 November 13:45 Showroom 1. Filmmaker will attend the screenings.
The Last Days Of Yasser Arafat - Sherine Salama, Australia, 2006, 77mins, UK Premiere Australian-Palestinian director Sherine Salama headed to Ramallah in September 2003 sure that Yasser Arafat’s days were numbered and that he had a story to tell. Rebuffed in her efforts to meet the President, she returns the following year and is granted a 20-minute interview, which turns out to be Arafat’s last. In the following days, as Arafat lays dying, Salama records every twist and turn that occurs to create this intimate and insightful documentary of the great historic event.
Wed 1 November 21:15 Showroom 4 / Thu 2 November 12:15 Showroom 1
The Lost World Of Tibet, Emma Hindley, UK, 2006, 90mins, World Premiere / BFI Archive screening A recently restored treasure-trove of colour films from the 1940s and 1950s provides the core of this astonishing film, which allows us to see what Tibet was like before its brutal occupation by China. The film includes a revealing interview with the Dalai Lama, who reminisces about how much he missed his mother and his envy of his brother who got to play with all his toys.
Wed 1 November 10:15 Showroom 3 / Sun 5 November 09:45 Showroom 3 The Filmmaker will attend the screenings.
Soldier Girls, Nick Broomfield & Joan Churchill, USA, 1981, 87mins One of Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill’s earliest documentaries follows the basic training of a group of women conscripts from Georgia. Without narration, or Broomfield himself as a character, attention is very much on the soldiers, several of whom take a physical and psychological pummelling from their superiors determined to toughen them up. Churchill constantly manages to get her camera up close and personal also capturing times when the soldier girls transform into individuals caught up with the same preoccupations as women everywhere.
Wed 1 November 11:45 Showroom 1 / Sat 4 November 13:45 Showroom 3, Filmmakers will attend this screening.
War Hospital - David Christensen & Damien Lewis, Canada / Japan, 90mins, UK Premiere In a small town in northern Kenya, a steady stream of planes brings wounded patients from neighbouring Sudan. These victims of Sudan’s brutal civil war are destined for the world’s largest field hospital, run by the International Red Cross. Filmmakers David Christensen and Damien Lewis were granted unprecedented access to the surgical hospital and follow the international and local staff during a 3-month period when peace might finally be signed in Sudan.
Tue 31 October 14:30 Showroom 3 / Thu 2 November 21:00 Showroom 3
DocHouse programme on mining
Which Side Are You On? - Ken Loach, UK, 1984, 53mins Twenty years ago, Britain's miners embarked on a strike over pit closures. During the strike, the South Bank Show commissioned Loach to make a film about the music and poetry arising from it. However, when Loach included footage of police brutality, ITV refused to show it. The film went on to be broadcast on Channel 4 in 1985, followed by a “balancing” programme showing an alternative view of the miners’ strike.
Sun 5 November 10:15 Showroom 1
Harlan County, U.S.A. - Barbara Kopple, USA, 1976, 103mins Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award–winning Harlan County U.S.A unflinchingly documents a gruelling coal miners’ strike in a small Kentucky town. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners’ sometimes violent struggles with strike-breakers, local police and company thugs.
Sun 5 November 11:45 Showroom 1
All screenings at The Showroom
7 Paternoster Row
Sheffield
S1 2BX
Ticket sales call 0114 275 7727
World Premiere
The Brook Lapping/Electric Pictures drama-documentary Bom Bali is one of the most ambitious films yet made about a modern terror attack. Featuring intense testimonies from perpetrators, victims and rescuers alike, the film sets out to recreate but also understand both the immediate and lasting effects of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. The film also attempts to deal with the most sensitive questions of grief and forgiveness. In one memorable scene a leader of Bali's Islamic community comforts the daughter of a victim of the blast, itself an eloquent testimony to the fact that the bombers' principal aim (to build what they called "a ravine of hate" between communities) was unfulfilled.
Fri 3 November 14:00 Showroom 5, producers will attend this screening.
Dear Father, Quiet, We're Shooting - David Benchetrit, Israel, 2005, 75mins, UK Premiere
This timely documentary looks at the flowering of Israel’s conscientous objection movement during its lengthy war with Lebanon. Soldiers and officers who ultimately refused to take part speak frankly about their experiences and the scars they carry from the conflict that so routinely took civilian lives. How, asks a pilot, can you drop a one-ton bomb in a populated area for a “targeted assasination” and not be conscious that innocent civilians will die? Thu 2 November 18:45 Showroom 4 / Fri 3 November 11:30 Showroom 2. Filmmaker will attend the screenings.
Guerrilla Girl - Frank Piasecki Poulsen, Denmark, 2005, 92mins,
UK Premiere
Isabel is 21 years old, beautiful, and university-educated, with a boyfriend and loving parents. She’s also one of the newest recruits of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Filmmakers Frank Pousen and Johannes Jensen gained unprecedented access inside a FARC training camp deep in the Amazonian jungle to follow Isabel and her fellow recruits. Urban Isabel is ill-prepared for her new persona, but she has no choice but to adapt. A brilliant documentary, bringing some understanding to the workings of one of the world’s largest and most active rebel armies. Fri 3 November 13:45 Showroom 2 / Sun 5 November 20:15 Showroom 4
Hacking Democracy - Simon Ardizzone & Russell Michaels, UK, 2006, 80mins, World Premiere Grandmother Bev Harris became obsessed with investigating electronic voting systems after she learned how much secrecy they are allowed to operate under. When Harris decides to spot-check the recent votes in Velutia County Florida she finds staff tossing out voting records. Ardizzone and Michaels’ eye-opening film shows that electronic voting systems are making a mockery out of the already-beleaguered state of democracy in America. Tue 31 October 20:30 Showroom 4 / Sat 4 November 09:30 Showroom 3. Filmmakers will attend the screenings.
The Hands Of Che Guevara - Peter de Kock, The Netherlands, 2006, 59mins, International Premiere www.lasmanosdecheguevara.com
In 1997 the body of Che Guevara was unearthed under a runway in Bolivia. With this discovery the last mystery of his life and death seemed to be resolved. Except for one thing: his hands were missing. The search for the severed hands leads us to a number of remarkable people and leaves us wondering just who is telling the truth? Fri 3 November 20:30 Showroom 4 / Sat 4 November 13:45 Showroom 1. Filmmaker will attend the screenings.
The Last Days Of Yasser Arafat - Sherine Salama, Australia, 2006, 77mins, UK Premiere Australian-Palestinian director Sherine Salama headed to Ramallah in September 2003 sure that Yasser Arafat’s days were numbered and that he had a story to tell. Rebuffed in her efforts to meet the President, she returns the following year and is granted a 20-minute interview, which turns out to be Arafat’s last. In the following days, as Arafat lays dying, Salama records every twist and turn that occurs to create this intimate and insightful documentary of the great historic event.
Wed 1 November 21:15 Showroom 4 / Thu 2 November 12:15 Showroom 1
The Lost World Of Tibet, Emma Hindley, UK, 2006, 90mins, World Premiere / BFI Archive screening A recently restored treasure-trove of colour films from the 1940s and 1950s provides the core of this astonishing film, which allows us to see what Tibet was like before its brutal occupation by China. The film includes a revealing interview with the Dalai Lama, who reminisces about how much he missed his mother and his envy of his brother who got to play with all his toys.
Wed 1 November 10:15 Showroom 3 / Sun 5 November 09:45 Showroom 3 The Filmmaker will attend the screenings.
Soldier Girls, Nick Broomfield & Joan Churchill, USA, 1981, 87mins One of Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill’s earliest documentaries follows the basic training of a group of women conscripts from Georgia. Without narration, or Broomfield himself as a character, attention is very much on the soldiers, several of whom take a physical and psychological pummelling from their superiors determined to toughen them up. Churchill constantly manages to get her camera up close and personal also capturing times when the soldier girls transform into individuals caught up with the same preoccupations as women everywhere.
Wed 1 November 11:45 Showroom 1 / Sat 4 November 13:45 Showroom 3, Filmmakers will attend this screening.
War Hospital - David Christensen & Damien Lewis, Canada / Japan, 90mins, UK Premiere In a small town in northern Kenya, a steady stream of planes brings wounded patients from neighbouring Sudan. These victims of Sudan’s brutal civil war are destined for the world’s largest field hospital, run by the International Red Cross. Filmmakers David Christensen and Damien Lewis were granted unprecedented access to the surgical hospital and follow the international and local staff during a 3-month period when peace might finally be signed in Sudan.
Tue 31 October 14:30 Showroom 3 / Thu 2 November 21:00 Showroom 3
DocHouse programme on mining
Which Side Are You On? - Ken Loach, UK, 1984, 53mins Twenty years ago, Britain's miners embarked on a strike over pit closures. During the strike, the South Bank Show commissioned Loach to make a film about the music and poetry arising from it. However, when Loach included footage of police brutality, ITV refused to show it. The film went on to be broadcast on Channel 4 in 1985, followed by a “balancing” programme showing an alternative view of the miners’ strike.
Sun 5 November 10:15 Showroom 1
Harlan County, U.S.A. - Barbara Kopple, USA, 1976, 103mins Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award–winning Harlan County U.S.A unflinchingly documents a gruelling coal miners’ strike in a small Kentucky town. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners’ sometimes violent struggles with strike-breakers, local police and company thugs.
Sun 5 November 11:45 Showroom 1
All screenings at The Showroom
7 Paternoster Row
Sheffield
S1 2BX
Ticket sales call 0114 275 7727
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