What is it?
Sheffield Doc/Fest brings the international documentary family together to celebrate the art and business of documentary making for five intense days in November. Doc/Fest is a film festival, industry session programme and market place, offering pitching opportunities, controversial discussion panels and in-depth filmmaker masterclasses, as well as a wealth of inspirational documentary films from across the globe.

Why is it significant?
Doc/Fest is the only place in the world where you will meet sectors of the whole of the British documentary industry under one roof. Each year, the industry conference attracts the leading names of British documentary makers and executives in British television. The delegate mix of over 1800 includes documentary and factual producers, directors, buyers, commissioners and distributors. It is the perfect place to launch your latest documentary, pitch new ideas, meet future co-production partners and get insider tips from some of the world’s best documentary makers. It is a relaxed and friendly place to hold meetings with producers, commissioners and distributors, learn about the latest trends in production and discover new innovations and emerging talent.

What happens during the 5 day event?
The Doc/Fest film programme is made up of premiere and non-premiere films from the cinema, television and online arenas. Filmmakers and distributors from around the world are invited to submit feature, medium length and short documentaries produced in mid-2009 for 2010’s festival.

Other sessions at Sheffield Doc/Fest include keynote addresses and interviews with some of the world’s leading documentary filmmakers and broadcasters.

Opportunities
There are many pitch competitions, for which its not too late to apply for! All of which offer generous prizes consisting of substantial funding and opportunities to get your work seen by a wide audience.

The different pitch competitions are listed below, please click on the links to the pitches you are interested in.

Channel 4 First Cut Pitch, Current TV Series Pitch, Wellcome Trust Pitch, WorldView Pitch, Why Poverty Pitch, BCS Digital Revolutions, Seize The Future Crowd Funding Pitch, Specialist Factual New Talent Pitch, The Shed Internship.

If you have any general queries about the pitch competitions, please email charlie@sidf.co.uk

For more information on this exciting event please click here to visit the main website.