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Doc/Fest: preview and interviews

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DocFest4One of the world’s largest documentary festivals returns to Sheffield this week.

With a programme jam-packed full of variety and a live event line-up littered with exclusives and hidden gems, Sheffield Doc/Fest is set to provide a diverse feast for all, once more.

We’ve previewed the festival on Sheffield Live! with great insights from the organisers, in a number of interviews:

  • Chris Arnold stepped in to chat with Heather Croall (festival director) and Hussain Currimbhoy (festival programmer) in a Doc/Fest preview special – podcast here;
  • Hussain Currimbhoy discussed this year’s festival programme – and the Devil’s Arse (a cave in Castleton, which provides a great location for screenings of Happiness, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, and Visitors) – with Van Connor on Saturday 31st May’s Slam Dunk Cinema – podcast here (31st May show);
  • And Hussain joined Dale Le Fevre on yesterday’s Communities Live show – podcast here (3 June show).

Some of the documentaries discussed in the interviews include Nowhere Is Home, Happiness, Beyond Clueless, Adam Buxton’s David Bowie BUG special, Finding Fela, All Is Mayhem, Still The Enemy Within, Love Is All (screening at Chatsworth), Miners Shot Down, A Beautiful Noise and Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets. Interviews also covered the extraordinary diversity and variety of this year’s film festival and conference programme; the Doc/Fest app; and the special Interactive at Doc/Fest pass

Now in its 21st Year, Sheffield Doc/Fest is one of the top three documentary festivals and markets in the world.

The interviews also provide a fascinating insight into the massive planning that goes into a festival of this stature.

Sheffield Local election results

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The leader of the Liberal Democrats has lost his seat, the Green Party and UKIP won seats, and Labour maintain their position running Sheffield City Council. Sheffield Live! were at the election count on Friday 23rd March, covering the exciting results as they were announced.

The biggest story of the day was in Crookes. Shaffaq Mohammed of the Liberal Democrats, their leader on Sheffield City Council, had previously represented Broomhill, but had decided to switch to stand for the previously safe neighbouring ward. But his vote fell and Labour picked up votes to win the seat, forcing the Lib Dems to find a new leader over the next few weeks.

Shaffaq Mohammed speaks to George Torr after the results were in

Elsewhere in the city, the Liberal Democrats performed better than in 2012, holding vulnerable seats in Graves Park, Stannington and Beauchief and Greenhill, where their 2010 candidate, Clive Skelton, had defected to Labour and has now lost his seat. But they lost seats in Nether Edge and Walkley which they also failed to win 2012, and end up with six fewer seats on the council.

The Greens were celebrating after winning both their target wards, Sarah Jane Smalley taking the final seat in Central, and Brian Webster gaining Broomhill – their first ever win outside the Central ward. They managed second in the remaining wards in Central constituency (Manor Castle, Nether Edge and Walkley).

Sarah Jane Smalley speaks to Mickey Conn

Jillian Creasy speaks to George Torr after the results were in

UKIP attracted the most headlines, following big gains in Rotherham with three seats on Sheffield City Council: Jack Clarkson taking Stocksbridge and Upper Don, their top target, along with two surprise victories in East and West Ecclesfield. They managed strong second places to Labour across most of the east of the city, while in the west, despite increasing their vote share, they didn’t challenge the leading parties.

John Greenfield speaks to George Torr

Labour saw their votes slightly down on the previous elections of 2012 in many wards, but still well up on 2010, the last time these candidates were up for election. Their gains from the Lib Dems slightly outweighed their losses to the Greens and UKIP, leaving them up one seat overall and with an even larger majority on the council.

Olivia Blake speaks to George Torr after the results were in

Among the other parties, the Conservatives for the first time didn’t stand in every ward, and struggled in their target areas around Dore & Totley, Ecclesall and Fulwood. TUSC picked up only a handful of votes in most wards, their strongest performance by Maxine Bowler in Burngreave only 443 votes and well down on 2012. Independents also failed to feature heavily, with two Liberal Democrats doing the best: John Hesketh in Crookes taking 549 votes and Martin Brelsford in Stocksbridge & Upper Don on 526.

Overall, Labour now have 59 seats (up one), the Liberal Democrats remain the official opposition on 18 seats (down six), the Green Party now have 4 councillors (up two), and UKIP have 3 (up three).

Residents urged to make their vote count

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By George Torr

Sheffield electors are being reminded to use their vote in this Thursday’s up and coming elections.

Like many other local authorities across England, Sheffield is holding local elections on Thursday (22 May) and electors will also be having their say in the European elections for Yorkshire and Humberside. 

A total of 128 candidates will be standing for election this year across the 28 wards in Sheffield –   a third of the Council seats – plus one additional seat in Walkley following the recent resignation of Cllr Nikki Sharpe. The results will be announced on Friday 23 May and will be available on Sheffield City Council website.

Voting cards

“By now, everyone in Sheffield who’s on the electoral roll should have received a polling card, showing which polling station they need to go to in order to vote,” said John Mothersole, Returning Officer for the local elections in Sheffield.

“All polling stations are open from 7am in the morning until 10pm, so you have all day to go and vote.  You don’t need to take your polling card with you to vote, so don’t worry if you don’t have it with you when you call in, although sometimes it can be helpful to have it with you.

 Postal votes

 “If you have a postal vote and you haven’t already posted it, you can hand it in to any polling station up to 10pm on Thursday.  If you do have a postal vote, then please take responsibility for it.  You need to complete it personally and follow all the instructions.  There is a voluntary code of conduct for handling postal votes, which candidates and agents have signed up to.”

The count for the local elections will be held on Friday 23 May at the English Institute of Sport in Attercliffe.  The European election count will be held on Sunday 25 May and the results will be sent to Leeds, where they will announce the countywide results on Sunday.

Doc/Fest accepting film submissions for 2014

Sheffield Doc/Fest is now accepting film submissions for the 2014 programme.

If you are a new, established or student filmmaker with a great documentary to share, there is no better place to launch your film than at Sheffield Doc/Fest.

Doc/Fest accepts short, medium and feature length documentaries about any subject or on any theme; and also encourages new interactive documentary films to enter.

To enter, please visit the Doc/Fest website – where you can find the rules and regulations and the submission guidelines, and the online submission form.

Films with a duration over 30 minutes (with credits) are charged at £30 (+VAT) per entry. Films running at under 30 minutes (with credits) are £25 (+VAT) per entry.

Doc/Fest only accept films submissions on Vimeo.

Submissions are accepted until midnight (GMT), January 24th 2014.

Many new documentary films have launched from the Sheffield Doc/Fest world renowned programme including ‘The Flaw’ by David Sington, ‘We Are Poets’ by Alex Ramseyer-Bache and Daniel Luccessi, ‘Fire In the Blood’ by Dylan Mohan Gray.

If you have any questions please contact the Director of Programming, Hussain Currimbhoy.

Sheffield hosts British Climbing Championships

A competitor at the British Climbing Championships (Photo: Jamie Veitch)

A competitor at the British Climbing Championships (Photo: Jamie Veitch)

Brand new Sheffield climbing wall Awesome Walls – which we have written about here – opened with a high profile event this weekend (5-6 October) when it hosted the British Lead and Speed Climbing Championships.

Day 1 of the competition featured the youth and veteran lead climbing categories. A full breakdown of scores and results in this categories can be found here.

Day 2 featured the Senior Lead climbing, and the Junior and Senior Speed climbing competitions.
In the lead climbing events:
  • Ed Hamer retained his Male Senior title;
  • 15 year old Molly Thompson-Smith, who’d won the junior Female A lead category the previous day, also won the Senior Female lead category, and won it convincingly by topping out on all the routes! Molly is the youngest ever winner of a Senior GB title
  • A full breakdown of scores and results for the Senior Lead categories can be found here.

The pressure was not only on the competitors – it was on the venue and its build team too. Awesome Walls is a brand new venue, which has been completed just in time for the competition.

Managing director Dave Douglas told Sheffield Live:

“As the deadline loomed for the completion of the new Awesome Walls the pressure was on not only to complete the project but to go one step further and give the competitors a facility that they would next forget. As the keen climbers entered the climbing arena never before has the word ‘awesome’ been
spoken with such truth and enthusiasm!”

What next?

Interview with alien life Professor, Milton Wainwright

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Professor Milton Wainwright works at the University of Sheffield’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. Last week he attracted national and international media attention after writing in the Journal of Cosmology that he has recovered biological entities from between 22 and 27 kilometres above the earth that – he concludes – may originate from space.

And this week Professor Wainwright spoke with Sheffield Live’s Andy Cooper about his conclusions.

You can listen to Andy’s 49 minute interview with Professor Wainwright here:

Or you can listen to an abridged 11 minute version of the interview within the Communities Live programme from 26/09/2013, here.

Wainwright claims that it would be impossible for particles of the size he has recovered to ascend from Earth to this distance above the earth without an event such as a violent volcanic eruption, and that nothing like this occurred within three years of the sampling (done via a special balloon). He’s also emphatic that no cross-contamination occurred.

“Potentially a history making story,” says Andy. Listen to the complete interview, above.

Digital switchover – All your questions Answered

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Sheffield Live! 93.2 fm has an interview with Jeremy Buxton at 15:30 on the 8 July 2011 all about the Digital Switchover.  The Switchover date for Sheffield is 10 August and other parts of the country are going to be following soon.  So why not listen in to Sheffield Live! 93.2 fm or on www.sheffieldlive.org.  If you know all about the digital switchover maybe you can give someone a helping hand.  Find out how by either visiting our website or listening in tomorrow at 15:30.

Our General Election Coverage 2010

The UK general election was held on the 6th of May 2010 and turned out to be one of the most tightly fought and important this country has seen in generations. Although the Conservatives won the largest number of votes and seats, they still fell short of the 326 seats needed to have an overall majority. The first time this has happened since 1974 and only the second time since the ‘Second World War’ that a UK general election has returned a hung parliament.

Sheffield’s Full General Election Results

Sheffield’s Full Local Election Results

On a local level, Sheffield Live! was there every step of the way. Our team of reporters and presenters broadcasting both the ‘General Election’ & ‘Local Council’ results; along with all the interviews and comments from the people that matter. We started at 1am in the morning and didn’t stop delivering the news to you till 6pm that evening.

Our reporting team throughout the event were: Paul Gregory, Sangita Basudev, Charlotte Dobson, Amna Kaleem, Mickey Conn, Ross Drayton & Simon Thake. Below you can hear some of the highlights from their coverage.

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The Night-time Shift: 1am till 6am
Presented by Paul Gregory

[audio:http://web.sheffieldlive.org/wpress/2010election/Election%201.mp3|titles=Night Time Election Coverage|artists= Paul Gregory]

The Breakfast Show: 6am till 9am
Presented by Ross Drayton and Simon Thake

[audio:http://web.sheffieldlive.org/wpress/2010election/Election%202.mp3|titles=Breakfast Election Coverage|artists=Ross Drayton and Simon Thake]

The Afternoon Show: 12pm till 3pm
Presented by Sangita Basudev & Mickey Conn

[audio:http://web.sheffieldlive.org/wpress/2010election/election%203.mp3|titles=Afternoon Election Coverage|artists=Sangita Basudev and Mickey Conn]

The Late Afternoon Show: 5pm till 6pm
Presented by Amna Kaleem

[audio:http://web.sheffieldlive.org/wpress/2010election/Election%204.mp3|titles=Late Afternoon Election Coverage|artists=Amna Kaleem]

Minister pledges to find new funds for community radio

Support Community Radio! Sign the Petition! Click Here!The Government is to seek additional funds to support community radio, according to Siôn Simon MP, Minister for Creative Industries. The Minister’s comments come in response to a joint letter to the Prime Minister signed by community broadcasters in Sheffield and across the country, calling for a sizeable increase in public funding for community radio.

In the Government reply to the joint open letter, Siôn Simon writes: “the Government recognises the importance of community radio and its contribution to the communities which they serve”. In addition to current Government support, he says: “DCMS will continue to work with other Government Departments and Agencies to identify other sources of funding, specifically where there are community cohesion and social gain objectives, for community radio.”

Steve Buckley, Director of community radio station, Sheffield Live!, said: “We welcome Government recognition that additional funding should be found for community radio but we need more than a vague expression of intent.  We are not asking for the sector to be fully, or even majority, publicly funded. All we want is for Government support to be reflected in a funding settlement that reflects the benefits community radio brings to the communities we serve. Government should implement now the recommendations of the Everitt Report.”

Professor Anthony Everitt, author of the 2003 report, New Voices, whose recommendations formed the basis for government legislation, says the sector is “hobbled by its poverty”, and has called on government to implement the recommendations of his report to provide (matched) grant aid of £30,000 per year per station towards core operating costs. Everitt says “this is a modest expenditure when the benefits community radio can confer are taken into account”.

The community radio campaign has gained the support of members of Parliament from all political parties. Lord David Puttnam assured the community radio sector:  “…the weight of public support and technological history are with you.” A petition, at http://allthevoices.org, calling on the Government to support the sustainability and growth of community radio by substantially increasing the resources of the Community Radio Fund, has gathered nearly 3000 signatures.

For further information including a copy of the letter from the Minister follow this link

Jeff Halper and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign

On the fourth of September Jeff Halper visited Sheffield to participate at a public meeting organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Jeff is the director of the Israeli Committee against House Demolition (ICAHD). In his speech he gave an account of the territorial expansion of the Israeli control and the tools used for this purpose: the construction of new settlements and the demolition of Palestinian homes. He explained that this is no side aspect of the conflict, but a central one, namely the one which most than anything undermines the viability of a future Palestinian state. Jeff also introduced the audience to ICAHD’s work. Musheir El Farra, chair of the Sheffield PSC, opened the meeting.

The team from Communities Live (broadcast every weekday from 12 till 1pm) was at the meeting, and presented the highlights a few days later:

icahd