Cíntia Gil: Last News

Sheffield DocFest is on the rebound.

Leading UK documentary event Sheffield Doc/Fest has named former London and Sydney film festival director Clare Stewart as interim CEO. Stewart will steer the fest through its 2022 edition, which will run June 23-28.

Naman Ramachandran Clare Stewart, former festival director of BFI London Film Festival, BFI Flare and Sydney Film Festival will take on the role of interim CEO for the 29th edition of the Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 23-28, 2022).In addition, Oscar-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia (“Amy”) will serve as guest curator for the 29th edition and will personally select some sections of the screenings program and work with the team on events, talks and other initiatives. The festival, one of the world’s premier festival and markets for documentaries has been through some turbulent times recently when a clash between artistic and commercial values led the entire programming team to be ousted following the departure of artistic director Cintia Gil.

Manori Ravindran International EditorSheffield Doc/Fest, one of the world’s top gatherings for the documentary industry, is in turmoil as its entire programming team appears to have been quietly terminated following the exit of artistic director Cintia Gil last week.On Friday, in an emotional statement, the festival’s group of seven programmers — Juliano Gomes, Qila Gill, Carlos Pereira, Christopher Small, Rabz Lansiquot, Soukaina Aboulaoula and Herb Shellenberger — spoke out about an ugly clash between the festival’s board of trustees and its outlook for the event, and the artistic team and their curatorial vision.Noting that the entire group has been with the festival since 2019, under former DocsLisboa chief Gil, they claim they were

A group of seven programmers who have worked on leading UK documentary event Sheffield Doc/Fest for the past two editions have publicly stated that they were let go from the event, silently locked out of their email accounts, and removed from the website with “no note of termination”.

Cíntia Gil, the director of international doc event Sheffield Doc/Fest, has left her position citing “artistic differences over the present and future direction [of the event]” with the board of trustees.