Amelia’s Magazine | Sheffield Doc/Fest 2013 Review: Nine New Documentaries To Watch

Pussy Riot by Linus Nystrom
Pussy Riot in prayer position. Illustration by Linus Nystrom.

Don’t miss this summer’s hottest documentary films. Here’s our pick as seen at Sheffield Doc/Fest, including all the trailers.

Fuck For Forest
Gives direct action a whole new meaning

How far would you go to save the planet? Fuck For Forest is a green non-profit which raises money online through home-made blue movies and photos. The content can only be seen by participation or donation. So far, so hippy porn site. But as you find out why the group do it, and how they’re handling the money, the film becomes eye-opening in unexpected ways. Watch to challenge your ideas of charity, pornography, the body, and how we find our place in the world.
Available for download now, on DVD from 17th June
www.fuckforforestmovie.com

The Act of Killing
Movies, morals and mass murder

With Werner Herzog involved, you know this film could go anywhere. A group of men at the heart of one of the worst genocides of the 20th century are given the opportunity to recreate their killings on film, in the style of popular movies. Making movies about the murders means addressing their actions, and the result is an award-winning clash of fact and fiction.
In UK cinemas from 28th June
www.theactofkilling.com

The Man Whose Mind Exploded
The surreal world of a man without memory

Salvador Dali once worked with him, but since the 1980s Drako Zarharzar‘s life has taken a turn for the surreal. A string of accidents, breakdowns and comas have left his memory ‘not recording’. Film-maker Toby Amies documents Drako’s world, including the inside of the flat that functions as his mind. Imagine Memento and 50 First Dates rewritten as a Brighton bromance, and you’re halfway to this unforgettable film.
Next screening on 30th June
www.themanwhosemindexploded.com

Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
Extreme courtroom drama

The story of Russian female punk activists Pussy Riot, complete with rehearsal room footage, childhood photos, performances, court appearances, family interviews, and all the media mayhem that followed their performance in Moscow’s biggest cathedral. Three members were arrested and two are still serving time in a penal colony. Nadia, Katia and Masha‘s court statements alone are worth seeing on a big screen to remind yourself why they became feminist superheroes, and why Pussy Riot matters.
In UK cinemas from 5th July
www.hbo.com/documentaries/pussy-riot-a-punk-prayer

Blackfish
Mommy don’t take me to Seaworld

Blackfish is something of an accidental save-the-animals film. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite started by investigating the death of a whale trainer at Seaworld, and uncovered a long history of ‘accidents’. The horror stories and footage pile up, heaping shame on Seaworld without tipping over into viewer voyeurism. By tracing the story of a whale called Tilikum from capture in 1983, through multiple incidents, up to his sad situation today, the whole bloody mess is laid out as clear as water.
In UK cinemas from 26th July
www.blackfishmovie.com

Project Wild Thing
An unusual nature trail

Self-deprecating dad David Bond is on a mission to save nature. His children’s attention spans will become as tiny as their underused wellies unless he does something serious. David appoints himself Marketing Director for nature and sets out on a rebranding mission, which at first seems like a joke, until he starts pulling in advice and favours from the world of marketing. The result is a hip and funny film you can’t help liking, about the oddness of branding and our often awkward relationship with nature.
Released in late July
www.projectwildthing.com

Particle Fever
See scientists swearing

If you still don’t understand the Hadron Collider or the Higgs boson – so that’s most of us – then this film will help you get your head around the most stunning human discovery of the century so far. It’s beautifully shot, very funny, brings out the real personalities of scientists, and includes women in key positions who make links between science and art. The physics is explained so well that it sticks with you.
Release date tbc
www.particlefever.com

The Great Hip Hop Hoax
Beastly boys

This isn’t a hip hop film. It’s the story of two boys from Scotland who thought they’d make it in the music industry if they pretended to be from California. So they move to London, change their accents, and pop begins to eats itself. It’s a richly ridiculous tale which takes in record company bosses, James from Busted, and a funny incident with Daniel Bedingfield. Will ultimately make you squeamish about the thirst for fame.
Released in early autumn
www.hiphophoax.com

The Big Melt
Steel gets Pulped


River of Steel, 1951 – one of the archive films used in The Big Melt

Sheffield Doc/Fest persuaded Jarvis Cocker to soundtrack an amazing mash-up of archive films from the city’s steel industry past. Footage of hot furnaces and smelting, female steel workers, city pub boozing and dancing, and vintage animation, are all skilfully woven together by Martin Wallace, a long-time collaborator with Jarvis. Musicians who took part in a one-time live performance included Pulp, Richard Hawley, Serafina Steer, and the City of Sheffield Brass Band, who pump out a classic 90s house track. The whole thing was recorded for later broadcast. Heavy metal, man.
On BBC4 this autumn

Categories ,a punk prayer, ,blackfish, ,docfest, ,documentaries, ,documentary, ,film, ,fuck for forest, ,particle fever, ,project wild thing, ,pussy riot, ,sheffield, ,the act of killing, ,the big melt, ,The Great Hip Hop Hoax, ,the man whose mind exploded

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Amelia’s Magazine | Camp Bestival 2014 Review: Mr. Tumble, Trolleys, Caravans and Mud Pies

Camp Bestival by Maia Fjord
Camp Bestival by Maia Fjord.

My final festival this year was Camp Bestival, which we travelled to on our way back from Cornwall. I went to the first ever Camp Bestival in 2008, when the idea of a boutique festival especially aimed at families was a fairly novel idea and it was a much smaller affair. I was there as a performer with the band that I helped to cofound, Cut A Shine, which has long since mutated into a sprawling folk dance collective with only the original cofounder Joe Buirski at the helm. This summer I returned as a parent for the full Camp Bestival experience.

Camp Bestival
Camp Bestival
Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival is by far the biggest festival that I have been to in recent years… which meant long treks across rolling campsites, stinky portaloos (though the compost loos near the main stages were a winner) and a seething mass of families carting their kids around in heavily souped up trolleys – this has surely become a thing only in the past few years? And of course a huge variety of activities, music and food to keep both adults and children entertained. Our journey to Dorset took far longer than expected, so night fell as we introduced a boggle-eyed Snarfle to the sights surrounding Lulworth Castle. It was a lot for a little one to take in!

Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
There were many highlights; I loved spending quality time with Snarfle in the woods, rigging up a play dough electrical circuit with Technlogy Will Save Us and learning how to make a cunning wildlife camera trap with Nature Bytes (both in the Science Tent) and listening to little known acoustic acts at the on the outer reaches of the site, where a camp fire was held in the evenings. Snarfle strummed along on his imaginary guitar whilst we waited for the most excellent wood fired fayre from the Pizza and Puppetry stand: cheapest good food we found and very much worth the long trip across the festival. The Farmer’s Market was also a great place for tasty nosh. As expected Mr. Tumble rocked the largest crowd of the festival, with a sea of toddlers held aloft on their parents’ shoulders. There were little discoveries to be made around every corner… one afternoon we chanced upon the two remaining members of Pan’s People teaching dance to all comers in the pink glow of the Bollywood tent, then we watched a vulture demonstrate his flying skills with Haven Falconry. We sadly missed out on daily discos for mini ravers in the same space, but I caught up with Natasha from Big Fish Little Fish this week and I hear the crowd was jumping.

Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
I adored the creativity of the Caravanserai bar area constructed by Monsieur Bateman, where punters could sit in sawn off caravans below a miniature train constructed out of prams, one still with it’s romany floral arrangements intact! The same guy was behind the fantastical Oberon’s Observatory which we sadly did not enter, and a smaller installation consisting of two old French vans topped with fairytale turrets connected by a bridge.

Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
Cut A Shine were curating activities at the Travelling Barn, where Toucan Uke taught Snarfle the proper way to strum a ukelele whilst singing about penguins.

Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp bestival 2014 review
Camp Bestival had copious sponsors including Yorkshire Tea (Snarfle is now a confirmed fan of milky tea), Duplo, where kids played with piles of brightly coloured bricks before receiving a small gift to take away (the ice creams were a real winner!) and Piriton (free bright yellow sunglasses, yay!)

camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
Project Wild Thing held nature based activities in the ‘Dingly Dell’, where a huge amount of children enjoyed the mud kitchen, making mud potions and digging for treasure. Other nature based activities included building fires, making dens, identifying birds, climbing trees and crafting clay animals. Rob da Bank’s desire to get children away from their screens is admirable and this area proved such a success that the woods were seething with people, and I relished the stillness that we found deeper under the trees.

camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
I enjoyed bits of the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop from the woods (think live rendition of the Doctor Who theme tune) and introduced Snarfle to Cut A Shine, who dedicated a new version of the Circassian Circle dance to Rob da Bank: stepping into the centre of the ring with guns in the air to “rob da bank”. Sophie Ellis-Bexter sang beautifully in a lovely red dress and admitted that her 10 year old son was standing at the side of the stage looking at his phone “what does a mum have to do to get their attention?!” I didn’t get to hear many of the ‘headliners’ because we don’t own a trolley so I was tucked up in our tent by 10pm. There were a plethora of interesting speakers in the Guardian Literary Tent and Snarfle was amazingly tolerant whilst we listened to the voluble and entertaining Kate Tempest chat about her career.

camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
camp bestival 2014 review
At a festival of this size there are a zillion entertainment possibilities and so of course we barely scratched the surface, but when a festival gets this big it can be a real trek to get around the site, especially with a toddler who refuses to walk. I swear I lugged him miles on my hip over the course of the weekend. Josie and Rob da Bank have done an admirable journey of translating the original anarchic Bestival spirit into something family friendly, and the mass of people testified to a winning formula. For slightly older kids (from about the ages of 6-11) this place must seem like heaven.

Categories ,2014, ,bestival, ,Big Fish Little Fish, ,Camp Bestival, ,Caravanserai, ,Castle Stage, ,Circassian Circle, ,Cornwall, ,Cutashine, ,Dingly Dell, ,Dorset, ,Duplo, ,Farmer’s Market, ,festival, ,Guardian Literary Tent, ,Haven Falconry, ,Joe Buirski, ,Josie and Rob da Bank, ,Kate Tempest, ,Lulworth Castle, ,Maia Fjord, ,Mini Castle Stage, ,Monsieur Bateman, ,Mr. Tumble, ,Nature Bytes, ,Oberon’s Observatory, ,Pan’s People, ,Piriton, ,Pizza and Puppetry, ,project wild thing, ,Radiophonic Workshop, ,review, ,rob da bank, ,Science Tent, ,Snarfle, ,Sophie Ellis-Bexter, ,Technlogy Will Save Us, ,Toddler, ,Toucan Uke, ,Travelling Barn, ,Yorkshire Tea

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