Daniel Theophanous reviews the first day of the exciting doc festival.
The Sheffield Doc Festival is once again upon us, although this is my first visit and I’m excited. The festival this year features 60 international and UK documentaries, including 27 world premieres and 52 UK premieres, all in the space of six days! So far the highlights have been the UK premiere of Michael Moore’s Where To Invade Next and a Q&A between Moore himself and political activist Owen Jones.
My first documentary, popping my Doc Fest cherry, was the exceptional Author: The JT Leroy Story (above), which retells the mighty publishing hoax of Laura Albert, who created the literary persona JT Leroy; JT of course goes on to become a world-wide publishing enigmatic phenomenon. The documentary gives a colourful and detailed account, through editing, animation and brilliant narration by Laura herself, of how her persona was created to escape depression and self-loathing. The documentary goes on to shed light on the worlds of publishing and celebrity; a hilarious scene, where Laura / JT is on the phone to Courtney Love, and Courtney interrupts mid-sentence to do a line of coke, snorts and all, is a wonderful highlight. The lightness and zest of Author: The JT Leroy Story was refreshing, thoroughly engaging and, despite all the mayhem and outrage, the documentary still shines on Laura’s very real literary talent.
Sadly I missed out on the Michael Moore Q&A with Owen Jones, due to a fire drill at City Hall, which took forever to clear. However I will be watching Moore’s Where to Invade Next on Sunday, and my disappointment was immediately cured by the UK premiere and one-off showing of the brilliant Strike A Pose (above).
Strike a Pose was an unexpected gem; now you might imagine that the focus would be on Madonna, this being a documentary primarily about her Blonde Ambition tour, however the protagonists are her six main dancers. It is truly a testament to the talents of co-directors Reijer Zwann and Ester Gould, that they have seamlessly blended the six personal and heartfelt stories of each of the dancers to produce one impressive story-arc that isn’t overloaded or sickly sweet; Strike a Pose is a true masterpiece in documentary filmmaking. The lyrical and evocative Strike a Pose deals with sexuality in the early 90s, drug and alcohol addiction, unfilled dreams and the advent of AIDS; it is a must see work of art and a totally compelling start for the amazing Sheffield Doc Fest.
Read the next day of coverage here.
