disruption, with organizers announcing today that the UK event’s industry activity will take place entirely online this year.
The program of film screenings talks, panels, artists’ events and community engagement activities will all be pushed to the fall from the original June dates, taking place across multiple weekends, they added. The pitching forums, the MeetMarket and Alternate Realities Talent Market, which present new factual film and TV works and invite a host of international guests, will proceed in June as planned but via virtual means, mirroring the initiatives taken by events such as MIPTV.
Organizers noted they would not hold any competitive strands this year, but the team will still watch all submitted titles to date and the plan is to highlight new doc works later in the year. People who have purchased passes will be offered a full refund. “Doc/Fest is an essential moment for the city of Sheffield, for the film industry and for all the international guests who join us, and its collective character is at the heart of the festival’s purpose. We strongly believe that people coming together to watch, to talk and to imagine the world through art is a transformative experience that produces change,” Doc/Fest head Cíntia Gil said in a statement.