Nordic docs tackle love, power, and survival at Sheffield

Sheffield DocFest, the UK’s premier documentary festival and one of Europe’s largest gatherings of its kind, has unveiled the full line-up for its 32nd edition, running from 18–23 June. A total of 116 films from 68 countries will screen this year, including 51 world premieres, reflecting a rich diversity of global storytelling — with Nordic voices prominently represented.

Leading the Nordic charge in the International Competition is North South Man Woman by Morten Traavik and Sun Kim. This Norwegian-Latvian-South Korean pic, produced by Verona Meier and Anna Krasztev-Kovacs and sold internationally by Dogwoof, offers an unconventional exploration of geopolitics, gender, and romance through encounters between North Korean women and South Korean men. The directors’ gaze focuses in particular on Yujin Han, who has worked her way up to become the CEO of her own matchmaking agency, Lovestorya. Using her own marriage as a key selling point for her business, Yujin acts as counsellor, friend and even surrogate family-in-law to her matched couples. However, behind the scenes of her business, Yujin’s family life strains under the pressure of work, gradually forcing her to confront some major life choices of her own.

In the Youth Jury Award section, Sweden’s Pråmfilm co-produces Katwe by Nima Shirali, a portrait of resilience and dignity in a Ugandan salt-mining community, while Denmark co-produces Lowland Kids by Sandra Winther, a moving look at America’s first climate refugees in Louisiana. The production team includes Sigrid Dyekjær for Real Lava, and William Crouse, Brendan Naylor, Lizzie Gillett, Lauren Avinoam and Darren Aronofsky for US-based Protozoa Pictures. Both titles make their international premieres, with the latter being shopped worldwide by Together Films.

The same strand also hosts Violet Du Feng’s The Dating Game, a co-production between the US, the UK and Norway’s Ten Thousand Images. The festival favourite, which premiered at Sundance and is sold by Cinetic Media, is a sensitive yet humorous portrait of three Chinese bachelors seeking a stable relationship.

Meanwhile, Redlight to Limelight by Bipuljit Basu — a Finland-Latvia-India co-production — is set to join the International First Feature Competition. The film documents a transformative initiative by sex workers in India who begin producing their own shorts, blending empowerment with artistry. In detail, it zooms in on CAM-ON, a creative community that learns filmmaking through online tutorials. Regularly uploading dynamic visual stories about their lives to YouTube, the group’s work navigates their personal struggles and the challenges of their past. Despite the derision of a deeply conservative society, these sex workers remain determined to become filmmakers and actors, attempting to break the cycle of prostitution for the next generation, and survive through the art of cinema.

Also of note is Apocalypse in the Tropics, co-directed by Moara Passoni and Oscar-nominated Petra Costa. Screening in the Debates sidebar, the Brazilian-Danish documentary unpacks Brazil’s political turbulence and climate struggles through a hybrid cinematic approach.

The Nordic line-up is rounded off by a Swedish short, Tuva Björk’s Fear Nothing (Fear Fokol). The film is a night ride into the fears and anxieties of Johannesburg’s wealthy inhabitants, seen through the work of the private security guards hired to protect them.

Beyond the screen, Nordic industry professionals will also be attending DocFest’s extensive marketplace and conference activities, reinforcing the region’s vital role in shaping contemporary documentary production and co-production networks.

To browse the full line-up: CLICK HERE.

Sheffield DocFest’s industry programme will be announced on 14 May.