News

Sheffield Doc/Fest CEO and Festival Director Elizabeth McIntyre is to step down after three years in charge.

McIntyre has run the British festival, which is one of the largest non-fiction festivals in the world, since 2016. She has welcomed names such as Tilda Swinton, Sir David Attenborough, Maxine Peake, Michael Moore, Shane Meadows, Lauren Greenfield, Jamal Edwards and Da Pennebaker to the northern city during her tenure.

This year, the former Discovery commissioner welcomed Sean McAllister’s A Northern Soul as the opening night film along with titles such as Mark Cousins’ The Eyes of Orson Welles, Marco Prosperio’s The Man Who Stole Banksy, Scott Christopherson-directed The Insufferable Groo and Sandi Tan’s Shirkers at the festival, alongside pitch projects from stars including Tilda Swinton and Alan Cumming as well as producers such as Searching For Sugar Man’s John Battsek and Shooting Bigfoot’s Morgan Matthews.

Alex Graham,...

Clerkenwell Films, the British production company behind teen sci-fi drama Misfits and Netflix and C4’s The End of the Fxxxing World, is developing a scripted series based on the life of British entrepreneur Jamal Edwards.

Edwards, the founder of online video channel Sbtv, which was responsible for helping the careers of pop stars such as Ed Sheeran and Rita Ora, said that the series would be akin to Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum, which debuted on E4 and is available on Netflix globally.

He revealed the news at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, where he was hosting a session titled Jamal Edwards MBE: Sbtv, Music and Mental Health with The Revolution Will Be Televised’s Jolyon Rubenstein. Edwards began his career filming videos on a UK housing estate and has since moved on to record interviews at 10 Downing Street and the Bermuda Triangle, which finding time to take selfies with Royal...

The Sheffield Doc/Fest, one of the largest non-fiction festivals in the world, kicked off this weekend with around 200 films as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. The festival is launching the world premiere of films such as Jack Black-associated The Insufferable Groo, the European premiere of Neon-acquired Three Identical Strangers and UK premieres of Pedro Almodóvar-exec produced The Silence of Others and Maya Rudolph-produced Shirkers.

The event, which runs June 7 to 12 and is somewhat similar to the Sundance Film Festival, is both a publicly facing festival with a sizeable industry angle, with broadcasters and filmmakers debating the future of the form and highlighting the latest high-profile projects.

Former Discovery commissioner Liz McIntyre, who is Chief Executive and Festival Director at Sheffield Doc/Fest, highlighted the opening night film Sean McAllister’s A Northern Soul, which follows underdog Steve, a factory worker by day and hip hop performer by night,...

The film will tell the story of Richard Kylea Cowie, aka Wiley, and the grime movement.

Pulse Films has announced the production of a new music biopic, Wiley, about the life of the successful London-born grime artist.

The feature drama, which will be directed by Adam Smith (Trespass Against Us) and developed with music publishing company BMG, will tell the story of Wiley – real name Richard Kylea Cowie – from his early days as an unknown Mc and producer on London pirate radio to his career on the world stage.

It will also take in the birth of the grime movement,...

Welsh drama Hidden is heading to the U.S. after Acorn TV struck a deal with All3Media International to pick up the eight-part series. The drama, which is produced by Severn Screen for S4C and BBC Wales, stars Hinterland and Requiem’s Sian Reese-William as Dci Cadi John, as she is drawn back to her childhood home by the faltering health of her beloved father, and finds herself policing the precinct and people of her youth including the search for the killer of a local woman is found in a remote mountain river.The series will air on the Svod service in July. It has also been picked up by international broadcasters including Dr (Denmark), Kro (Netherlands) and Vrt (Belgium). All3Media International boss Louise Pedersen said, “We knew that the pedigree of the team behind Hidden would result in a very distinctive series – Welsh Noir is now on the international map.

Grime, the British-originated urban music genre, is coming to the big screen with “Wiley,” a biopic of the musical pioneer from Pulse Films and BMG. Wiley is one of the most influential musicians of his generation and is known as the “Godfather of Grime.” He has also had several crossover hits, including “Wearing My Rolex.”

Adam Smith (“Trespass Against Us”) will helm the picture, which will tell the tumultuous life story of Wiley, whose real name is Richard Kylea Cowie. It will cover his early days as a struggling producer and performer on pirate radio in London up to when he began making a worldwide name for himself. The film will also trace the growth of grime from its underground U.K. roots to a genre that has resonated around the world.

“This is my life, my highs and lows, but it’s not really all about me,” Wiley said.