Irish Docs ‘The Reluctant Revolutionary’ and ‘We Went to War’ Selected for Sheffield Doc Fest
Two Irish feature documentaries THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY and WE WENT TO WAR will both screen at the Sheffield Doc Fest which kicks off today and runs until 17th June.
Sean McAllister's THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY which had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February and also screened at Hot Docs in Canada is an intimate portrait of Yemen as the revolution unfolds. Told through the eyes of tour guide leader Kais, an intelligent commentator on the changing time of Yemen, it offers poignant moments of reflection, loss, anger and hope on the unknown road to revolution. Produced by Rachel Lysaght and Elhum Shakerifar for Underground Films with funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) and BBC Storyville, the documentary was filmed over the course of a year with exceptional access to a country where no other camera crews or journalists were allowed to remain.
In 1970 Michael Grigsby made one of the first films about soldiers coming home from the Vietnam War I Was A Soldier. The critically acclaimed and award winning documentary focused on David, Dennis and Lamar, three veterans recently returned from combat, as they tried to readjust to life back home in the heartlands of Texas. Now, over 40 years later, WE WENT TO WAR continues their story. The film was produced by Rebekah Tolley, James Mitchell and Andrea Singer for Soho Moon Pictures and Tarian Films, with funding from IFB, Film Agency for Wales, Shoot for the Moon, Channel 4 and NRK.
The Sheffield Doc Fest celebrates the art and business of documentary making. It's 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. Previous Irish documentaries to screen at the festival include Knuckle, Burma Solider, Seaview and Gabriel Byrne: Stories from Home.
The festival will take place from Wednesday 13th - Sunday 17th June.