Weapons of Mass Surveillance

Exposing the weapon that brought down the Arab Spring

The digital age has heralded a new unprecedented means of surveillance, and as more of our personal information goes online, more of our lives are subject to state-sponsored espionage. Governments with dubious human rights records are now using mass surveillance technology to thoroughly track and quell any murmurs of dissent - and it is western companies that are providing the technology to do so. BBC reporter Nwal al-Maghafi investigates.

PlayMe Burlesque

Behind the curtain of New York's seductive burlesque scene

Risque, raucous, and sexy – PlayMe Burlesque returns to Coney Island, where Burlesque all began, and explores the vibrant characters who make up its electric scene. Featuring everyone from dancers, to hype men, to sound technicians – everyone has a unique story of how they were drawn to this most extravagant and exuberant of art forms. No matter how they got there, one thing’s for sure – everyone is having a ball!

Angkor Awakens

A nation grappling with a painful past and a promising future

Cambodia is a nation split between a bright future and a black past, still tending the savage wounds wrought upon its people by the Khmer Rouge and the USA bombers whilst also cultivating a determined and optimistic new generation. This deep and incisive portrait of a vibrant, bustling country moves beyond the verdant hills, ancient wonders and modern metropolises to reveal a past of violence and pain which still lingers not too far below the surface.

Spookers

Inside the charmingly frightening world of Spookers, New Zealand's top scare park

As night falls at Spookers, dozens of seemingly ordinary people become freaks, zombies and chainsaw-wielding clowns. Every weekend come rain, hail or shine, this diverse group of amateur performers unite to terrify punters at the southern hemisphere’s largest scream park, situated in a former psychiatric hospital. Director Florian Habicht reveals the transformative and paradoxically lifesaving power of belonging to a community that celebrates fear. "Complete with beautiful fantasy sequences and made with a huge heart, Spookers is another feather in the cap of gifted Berlin-born, New Zealand-based filmmaker Florian Habicht. If ever there was a Freak Me Out 'family film,' this is it." - Sydney Film Festival 2017 Buy Your Tickets for Sheffield Doc Fest Fright Night here! Click here for info on other Sheffield DocFest screenings.

Plastic China

A portrait of poverty, ambition and hope set in a world of waste

Laughter of playing children echoes through vast rolling hills of plastic waste. This recycling plant is home to Pen and his daughter Yi Jie, who is desperate for an education; and boss Kun, determined to improve his family's lot. Over time, one man moves closer to prosperity, whilst the other stagnates in poverty. This poetic doc exposes the lives of those on the fringes of global capitalist realities, a far cry from the communist dream.

Indivisible

A heartrending exploration of the human cost of US immigration policy

The young people at the heart of the US immigration debate are given a voice in this moving profile of the families torn apart by anti-immigration measures. Renata, Evelyn and Antonio were brought to the US by their parents in search of a better life, but their families are now divided as a result of deportation. They are known as Dreamers, fighting to be heard among the turbulence and controversy surrounding US immigration reform.

Radio Kobani

The extraordinary story of a young reporter in war-torn Kobanî.

Out of the smoke and dust of battle came Radio Kobanî, the brainchild of 20-year-old Dilovan. A young Kurdish woman, Dilovan took it upon herself to document the final days of IS control, and the stories of refugees returning to their flattened homes. Despite her harrowing experiences, Dilovan's positivity is resilient. Her belief is vindicated by the strength of Kobanî's citizens and their capacity to collaborate in the face of destruction.

The Long Night

An urgent, heart-breaking investigation into the young lives changed forever by under-age prostitution and exploitation

A frantic father pounds the streets, searching for his daughter. Schoolgirls, abused by pimps and enslaved by heroin, disappear into cars and shadowy motel rooms. A band of policemen desperately try to fix a system that punishes rather than protects. This visceral film follows those caught in a web of underage sex trafficking spun deep in the cracks of American society, in a gut-wrenching exploration of the lives destroyed by it.

No Friends But The Mountains

Will the Kurdish dream of independence and freedom ever become reality?

With the rise of ISIS and the central role played by the Kurdish Peshmerga in the fight against them, the question of Kurdish independence has taken on greater urgency. To answer this pressing question, Kurdish author Kae Bahar travels from his London home to his rocky and mountainous homeland, finding a complex mix of Kurdish nationalism and internal division. ‘War or Peace?’ Bahar asks. The answer is not so simple.