Memorable moments from this year’s festival.

So what do members of a Youth Jury get up to when equipped with a delegate pass and let loose to experience the U.K's most important documentary and digital media festival? 
Besides watching as many documentaries as possible, below you'll discover more about what we wild young things accomplished over the course of 5 action-packed  days and nights....


Wednesday 8th June: The Grand Opening Night.

© Jacqui Bellamy 2011

Following the Youth Jury’s participation in DFG’S DocDay 101, one of several engaging Doc/Fest workshops aimed at up-and-coming documentary filmmakers, we all highly anticipated the festival's opening night film - the U.K première of Spurlock's lastest documentary blockbuster: POM Wonderful Presents: The Greated Movie Ever Sold. Alas, one member of the jury of youth (not naming names) had not been lucky enough to get their name featured on 'The List' in order to obtain a rather snazzy pink ticket to the sell-out event.  

And so our work began, the first Youth Jury mission : succeed in getting all of us into the screening.

Here's a breakdown of the series of events that occurred within the 30 minutes leading up to the opening of screens that recall the tale of one youth juror's quest to gain access into the doc film première.

• 18:30: Four out of the five members of the Youth Jury are in possession of a golden ticket to the evening's event. The buzz surrounding Spurlock's film soars and crowds waiting to enter Screens 3 and 4  begin to assemble. The other two potential documentaries of the opening night decidedly loose their appeal as the minutes go by. 
• 18:46: A moment of intense deliberation for the aforementioned, unfortunate jury member - should they honourably join the already lengthy stand-by queue or should they take a chance and make a run for either screen 3 or 4 as soon as the doors are announced open? 

• 18:55: Hesitation and uncertainty on the rise. Moments before ticket holders are allowed to be seated, a mini Youth Jury reunion and last minute discussion takes place - a plan of action urgently needed!

• 18:58: Desperately seeking advice, a ray of hope comes in the form of the following suggestion given by a certain member of the Doc/Fest team : 'act important, act like you are meant to be there, that way you will get in.' (Thanks Joe!) 

• 18.59: Several queues of doc lovers and delegates assemble to watch Spurlock's film, the Youth Jury approach the stairs leading down to screens 3 and 4. Volunteer ticket checkers appear to flustered about what they are meant to do/where they are supposed to stand.  

• 18.59 and 30 seconds: THE GOLDEN, OPPORTUNE MOMENT. The jury of youth each grab a complimentary bottle of POM juice (FYI now available in you nearest Tesco store) and make their descent towards Screen 3 (ultimately the superior screen of the night due to the fact Spurlock had his Q&A there.) 

• 19:00: After a brief separation and a split-second moment of panic, all members of the Youth Jury are successfully and comfortably seated in Screen 3. Mission accomplished.

Thursday 9th June.
Tweet meet with Alma Har'el, director of Bombay Beach. 

Never mind recycling but with Twitter, the possibilities are certainly endless. For the benefit of the Youth Jury blog, I decided to embrace the almighty power of this particular social network in order to organise an interview with the wonderful director Alma Har'el who was promoting her first documentary feature film. This was definitely my first tweet meet, and I'm pretty certain it was her's too.  

My interview with Alma Har'el shall be posted in the not too distant future so keep your eyes peeled on the blog! In the meantime, all I can say is long live the Tweet Meet and the Twitterlution!  

What happens when you give a bunch of documentary fiends some skates, an oyster bar and vodka? 

A very surreal, merry and eventful evening is bound to be expected when you take read the mélange of this soirée! Proudly representing the Youth Jury on the festival's second night, I plucked up the courage to swap my shoes for some skates and dared to brave the dancefloor and bust some moves to the best collection of 80's disco classics! (This only occured of course after having acquired a bit of dutch courage.)

The most memorable shenanigans of the evening involve the following incidents: trying my first oyster with acclaimed documentary critic, Jennifer Merin who helped me opt for the hotsauce rather than the lemon, skating against the Swedish director Michel Wenzer of At Night I Fly and of course revelling in the sights of drunken skaters fall - priceless comedy!  

So muchos gracias TFI,  Madame Ivana, the Zorokovich Vodka Company and of course Skate Central Sheffield for hosting this extraordinary and unique Doc/Fest party.

Saturday 11th June.

Outdoor screening of Grey Gardens.

In spite of the typical British weather that Sheffield braced on the fourth day of the festival, the 'Documentaries on Devonshire Green' event, a brand new addition to this year's programme, proved itself to be a great success (indeed, this was before the outdoor screen decided to conveniently brake during the latter course of the afternoon.)

The film highlight of the day was without doubt the well attended screening of Grey Gardens which was shown after the Edie-attired parade in celebration of Albert Maysles drew to an end. This truly historical moment for Doc/Fest was heightened by the presence of the legendary director himself who introduced his film in front of an audience comprised of both festival delegates and the general public.  This special screening was made even more enjoyable thanks to the generosity of the Fancie Cupcake crew who provided everyone with yummy cupcake goodness!

Albert Maysles Masterclass, Lyceum Theatre. 

© Jacqui Bellamy 2011

It's fair to describe Saturday as a day-long celebration of Albert Maysles. The experience of being sat metres away from one of the most important and respected documentary directors in the world was enough to give me goosebumps. As soon as Maysles graced the Lyceum Theatre stage, you  instantly perceived the entire audience become awestruck by the director's  presence. This unanimous feeling that united the audience was maintained throughout the duration of his entertaining and informative masterclass as every documentary critic, director and the like held on to each word and sentence that Maysles so elegantly expressed. 

It was certainly remarkable to witness how at his great age, Maysles continues to convey to the world the same amount of zeal and enthusiasm for the documentary film genre as he has done throughout his career as a director. Suffice to say, this masterclass reinforced the fact that Albert Maysles is an outstanding role model and inspiration for budding documentary filmmakers. Furthermore, after being privileged enough to watch an exclusive preview, I'm certain that everyone is now eager to know the release date of his new documentary in which, after more than 40 years, we see the return of Maysles filming and working with Paul McCartney. 

Other notable highlights of the festival include.....

• Perfecting the art of flattery and schmoozing.   
• Attending the alternative Friday night party – Sheffield Fringe.
• Watching French artist Calvet create his painting in the Showroom Café 

© Jacqui Bellamy 2011

• Tweeting on a computer in the Workstation whilst sat next to Rudolph Herzog. 
• Having Tom, our appointed co-ordinator and P.A kindly fetch you coffee/water in times of severe tiredness and thirst - big up to Tom!!
• Writing our award speech at 12.30am in the Mercure hotel lobby surrounded by a throng of highflying people from the doc industry, including a merry looking Spurlock. 
• The moment when Nick Broomfield introduced himself to the Youth Jury before his masterclass.

Gina Willis.