Sheffield DocFest Introduces New Senior Team Members

Sheffield DocFest has welcomed four new members to its senior team who will help to develop and deliver this year’s edition of the event.

Festival programmer Raul Niño Zambrano will serve as head of film programs, while Emmy Award-winning immersive director Francesca Panetta will be the Alternate Realities curator. Sarah Mosses and John-Paul Pierrot of the Together Films agency have been tapped to lead the 2022 festival’s marketing and audience strategy and campaign.

It was previously announced that filmmaker Asif Kapadia will be Sheffield DocFest’s 2022 guest curator.

Clare Stewart, interim CEO, said: “We are thrilled to be welcoming such impressive industry leaders to the Sheffield DocFest team and are excited by the powerful combination of ideas, experience and international perspectives they will bring to the development and delivery of the 2022 edition. While the landscape for festivals remains in flux, together with the existing team, we will forge a bright future for Sheffield DocFest and for the industry colleagues, audiences, partners and community who continue to be so invested in that future.”

Zambrano said: “Sheffield DocFest plays such a vital role in the international documentary arena as well as for the British industry, and so it is a dream come true to lead on the programming and to connect filmmakers, film professionals and audiences with the latest trends within the documentary genre. I am also excited to make a contribution to U.K. cultural life at a time when its film and TV industries are really taking such positive steps to be more inclusive and accessible.”

Panetta said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining Sheffield DocFest, a festival that has long been a beacon for documentary-making that pushes form and takes risks. I’m honored to be curating Alternate Realities as the immersive industry enters a new phase—one in which audiences of all demographics are now familiar with virtual worlds, and artists and media makers are adopting and bending technologies at a furious rate.”

Mosses said: “We are thrilled to use our international perspective to build Sheffield DocFest’s industry and audience reach in 2022. We have long admired the festival and having attended it personally for the past ten-plus years, we know the brand essence extremely well. At its heart, Sheffield DocFest has always been a festival that challenges perceptions and delivers a thought-provoking program whilst still being great fun. We can’t wait to welcome the community back this year!”