Shot/Reverse Shot: Episode 34 - Doc/Fest 20

As the large number of Doc/Fest-related posts on this site might have suggested, I have been in attendance at the internationally renowned film festival, which is dedicated to truth, justice and the American way. Wait, that might be Superman. Yeah, I've looked it up and that one is Superman. Doc/Fest is the one dedicated to truth, new media, and having a good old knees-up in Sheffield. It was a pretty fantastic week, especially since it allowed me to not only engage in some serious film-watching, but also to attend some of the great events and masterclasses that were put on over the course of the five days, and hang out with some dear, dear friends who I have missed since moving to the States.

One such friend was Joe Gastineau, and we took advantage of being in the same country for once to record a special episode of Shot/Reverse Shot around Doc/Fest 20. We recorded our thoughts on the films and events throughout the week, then tried to put them into something resembling a broader context, This American Life-style. As such, we had to lose a lot of material - including my attempts to begin every section with a pun on Doc (e.g. "We're in the heart of docness") and the one moment when we were accosted by a very large, very drunk man who insisted that he knew Martin Parsons of Fohnhouse, who we were interviewing at the time. However, the remaining material is pretty good, too. If I sound a bit sleepy, it's because I had been up until 4 A.M. and had only had five hours of sleep prior to recording the wrap-around segments of the episode.



As always, you can stream the podcast using the link above, or preferably (from our point of view) you can subscribe using iTunes.   If you choose the latter, please rate it and leave a review because it   helps us to get more listeners, and also gives us something else to  obsess  over. Speaking of which, you can also Like us on Facebook, assuming that you do.  

Doc/Fest 2013 Coverage: Day Five

As the fifth and final day of Doc/Fest 2013 dawns, I am still waiting for that one documentary that strikes me as truly exceptional. Several of the films have come close to greatness - The Act of Killing, in particular, is almost certainly a masterpiece in the two hour cut that I didn't see, at least based on what I've read and heard elsewhere - but there always seems to be something that holds them back. I've certainly not seen any terrible films, but also nothing on a par with a Bombay Beach, Marwencol or Searching For Sugar Man, all of which were great films that played at Doc/Fest in the past. Today is the last chance for something to reach out and really do something amazing. Even if nothing does, though, I think the overwhelming quality of the events and sessions, not to mention the parties and general atmosphere, will make this qualify as a successful Doc/Fest, even though I might not end up putting any of the films I've seen here on my Top 10 at the end of the year.

Doc/Fest 2013 Coverage: Day Three

A very quiet day for me since I took much of the day off as a break from the festival to instead catch up with friends, eat some nice food and generally stay out of a screening. However, I was still able to see one of the most purely enjoyable films of the festival so far, which made for a pretty successful day despite the lack of incident.

Doc/Fest 2013 Coverage: Day Two

Today at Doc/Fest was both quieter and busier than yesterday since although I saw fewer things, they were on average longer and more time consuming than yesterday's batch. As such, I wasn't able to blog the day live, but I will endeavour to cover everything in this wrap-up.

Doc/Fest 2013 Coverage: Day One

Welcome to A Mighty Fine Blog's coverage of this year's Doc/Fest, coming to you live from in and around and up and down Sheffield's fabled streets and hills. I'll be updating the blog constantly over the next few days with brief capsule reviews of everything I see, assorted musings on the festival itself, and, depending on how sleep-deprived I become as the week goes on, surrealistic vignettes about pasties. I'll also probably do a final post on Monday with my final thoughts on the highs, the lows and the rich, creamy middles.

Shot/Reverse Shot: Episode 33 - Top Ten DocFest 2013

In the second of approximately seven thousand* things I'll be doing this week around Sheffield Doc/Fest, Joe Gastineau and I run down all the aspects of the festival that we are most looking forward to sampling. In contrast to my own personal preview, this is less about specific films that we excited about - although there are several that we are pretty keen on - than about the experience of the festival overall, so we talk about the films, the events, the general ambiance of the place and, of course, the many opportunities to attend free-wheeling, stereotype-confirming parties.



As always, you can stream the podcast using the link above, or preferably (from our point of view) you can subscribe using iTunes.   If you choose the latter, please rate it and leave a review because it   helps us to get more listeners, and also gives us something else to  obsess  over. Speaking of which, you can also Like us on Facebook, assuming that you do.  

*Possible over-estimation. Or under-estimation. 

Doc/Fest 2013 Coverage: Intro

This week is a most thrilling and exciting one in my little corner of the Internet. Not because of the impending release of Zak Snyder's Man of Steel, a film which I have very mixed and tentative feelings about. No, the reason I'm excited represents the exact opposite Snyder's opus, because right in the middle of a summer season awash with big, booming spectacle and fantasy, I'm going to spend five glorious days watching films dedicated to the real world, or something very much like it.

Yes, it's time for Sheffield's Doc/Fest, one of the biggest and brightest documentary festivals in the world, and I am delighted to say that I am going to be covering it, both on my lonesome and in partnership with my comrade-in-pod Joe Gastineau of The Wooden Kimono and Shot/Reverse Shot. Expect plenty of words, both written and spoken, to spill out onto this space over the next couple of days.