Sheffield DocFest: 'Realities in Motion'

The UK's leading documentary festival has unveiled its initial highlights for 2026 - under this year's programme title 'Realities In Motion'.

‍Sheffield DocFest, the UK’s leading documentary festival, one of the biggest showcases for documentaries around the globe, has announced the initial line up for this year’s festival. The 2026 edition of Sheffield DocFest, ‘Realities in Motion’, will take over Sheffield from 10 - 15 June, featuring this year’s Festival Guest of Honour Maxine Peake, Miriam Margolyes, Chris Packham, Andrea Arnold, alongside a special event dedicated to one of the world’s most famous living documentary makers, Sir David Attenborough. Sheffield DocFest has also announced that for 2026 they will present a family strand of the internationally renowned festival aimed at audiences of all ages.

Sheffield DocFest is a key moment in the UK’s cultural calendar where audiences can experience the very best in documentary filmmaking. Each year hundreds of artists and filmmakers from all over the world descend on the North of England in June to present groundbreaking world premieres and talks that inspire fresh perspectives, challenge conventional thought and invite audiences to consider alternate realities. One of the world’s most influential markets for documentary projects, the festival showcases the full breadth of the form across film, television, podcasts, immersive and virtual reality and art, presenting some of the most exciting creative minds from across the globe at all stages of their careers. The programme is curated from around 3000 entries worldwide, presenting a distinctive mix of bold, vivid and socially conscious work showcased in iconic city venues and unusual spaces throughout Sheffield.

Raul Niño Zambrano, Creative Director, Sheffield DocFest said: “‘Realities in Motion captures something essential about where we find ourselves in 2026, a moment defined as much by uncertainty as by constant transformation. At Sheffield DocFest this June, we embrace change not as something fleeting, but as an ongoing force that shapes how we see and understand the world.

"The programme title also speaks to movement in its most active sense, from grassroots activism to global technological shifts, reminding us that realities are continually being reshaped through collective momentum.

"We are incredibly proud and honoured to welcome such extraordinary voices to this year’s edition, including our Guest of Honour Maxine Peake, alongside Andrea Arnold, Miriam Margolyes and Chris Packham as part of our talks programme - artists and thinkers who truly embody the spirit of a world in motion.”

Mimi Poskitt, Managing Director, Sheffield DocFest said: “We are delighted to launch our brand new GEN DocFest strand for children and families at Sheffield DocFest 2026 - a wonderfully important step underlining our commitment to welcoming and developing the next generation of documentary lovers.

"And what better way to kick things off than announcing ‘A Thoroughly Horrible Morning!’ - an exclusive window into what goes into making two of the UK’s best-loved children’s TV series, Horrible Histories and Horrible Science. Expect a riot of fun and mayhem.

"We are equally thrilled to welcome Maxine Peake as our guest of honour. A proud Northerner with an extraordinary body of work spanning stage and screen, Maxine embodies fearless intelligence and deep social consciousness within her craft. Her presence speaks to the bold, thoughtful storytelling that sits at the heart of Sheffield DocFest.”

The DocFest Guest of Honour for 2026, BAFTA nominee, Bolton born Maxine Peake (Peterloo, I Swear) will be in conversation with filmmaker Paul Sng (Tish, Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché) discussing how working class voices are represented in the media and on screen in the age of populism. The pair will consider the relationship between class and notions of Britishness and ‘British’ stories. Through the lens of their previous work and collaborations Peake and Sng explore the challenges and craft of telling complex working class stories in a film and TV industry where representation has dropped to its lowest level in over a decade. As this year's Guest of Honour, Peake will also take on a curatorial role, personally selecting films to form part of the line-up and showcasing and introducing some of her favourite documentaries. The full Guest of Honour programme with Maxine Peake will be announced soon.

Maxine Peake said: "I feel very giddy about being this year's ‘guest of honour’. I adore Sheffield DocFest and the brilliant way it promotes and highlights documentary films and their makers. Documentary film is absolutely essential to human existence. It is able to mine and shine its focus on humanity and our lived experiences like no other medium can."

BAFTA winner and screen icon Miriam Margolyes makes her DocFest ‘debut’ to reflect on truth-telling and explore why bold storytelling matters in an increasingly polarised public sphere. Renowned for her use of  storytelling, humour and public speech to challenge power, puncture hypocrisy and insist on honesty throughout her long and extraordinary career she will be in conversation with her long-standing collaborator and director Simon Draper talking about the importance of speaking out.

Miriam Margolyes said: "I’m so thrilled to be coming. I’m new to 'dockos', it's so inspiring to be among the best at Sheffield, I'll learn so much."

Oscar-winning director Andrea Arnold (Cow, American Honey, Fish Tank, Wasp, Bird), whose remarkable career has shaped contemporary cinema, joins producer and close collaborator Kat Mansoor for an intimate conversation exploring the porous boundaries between fiction and documentary. She discusses how intuition, improvisation and attention to sensory experience shape her filmmaking, from casting non-actors to embedding closely with her subjects, Arnold’s approach resists neat categories and this talk offers a rare look inside her process.

Celebrating 100 years of Sir David Attenborough, Sir David Attenborough at 100: A Living Legacy is a special conversation that brings together leading voices to reflect on his extraordinary legacy and explore how it is shaping the future of environmental storytelling and activism. Across more than seven decades, his work has shaped global consciousness, combining scientific rigour with a profound sense of wonder and, increasingly, a call to responsibility in the face of accelerating environmental change. Hosted by filmmaker and activist Alice Aedy, this special conversation brings together wildlife filmmakers, on-screen voices, scientists and activists including Chris Packham, Gordon Buchanon, Nadeem Perera, Lizzie Daly and Climate Justice Activist, Speaker and Writer Dominique Palmer.

Alice Aedy said: "Sir David Attenborough profoundly shaped the course of my life. To get the chance to honour him alongside an extraordinary panel, also inspired by his legacy, is something I’m really looking forward to. And where better than DocFest, a platform celebrating impactful storytelling with the power to change our world."

Renowned naturalist, environmentalist, and campaigner, Chris Packham, reflects on his career-defining programmes with the BBC in this year’s BBC Interview. From tracing Earth’s 4.5-billion-year story to advocating for neurodiversity, Chris Packham joins Jack Bootle (Head of Specialist Factual, BBC) to explore the documentaries that have shaped his 40-year career.

Chris Packham explained: “I grew up with Sagan, Bronowski, Moore and Attenborough…I liked doctors of science and the arts, not Dr Who’s . I liked learning, I still like learning, I’ll choose a documentary over drama every time. As I type, I'm watch/listening to a doc about the history of the Bauhaus movement…sorry, I've never watched Madmen, Baby Reindeer or Casualty. I'm lucky to play a role in making natural science programmes about things I’m interested in, know a bit about - but the greatest joy is that I learn more every day at work.”

For the first time Sheffield DocFest will also present a brand new dedicated family strand in 2026. Designed for all ages and covering flagship events with some of the biggest names in children's entertainment to exciting interactive workshops the full programme will be announced at the end of this month. The first GEN DocFest event was announced today, with the cast & crew of CBBC's hit comedies Horrible Histories & Horrible Science heading North for an exclusive look behind the scenes of both shows. Featuring cast members Jess Ransom, Inel Tomlinson and Richard David-Caine, songwriter Richie Webb, Executive Producer Simon Welton, Costume Designer Jemima Cotter, for the first time ever, both of these shows come together to share the secret recipe behind the silliness and the success.

Sheffield DocFest is a major platform for both internationally recognised Award winning filmmakers to show work, often for the first time, and for talent to secure funding and distribution and attend masterclasses and Awards. In addition to the annual festival Sheffield DocFest presents year-round workshops, screenings and labs offering mentoring opportunities both in the UK and internationally. DocFest 2025 featured 51 world premieres, 16 international premieres, eight European premieres, and 39 UK premieres from 68 countries.

The 2026 edition of Sheffield DocFest will run from 10 - 15 June. Fuller programming will be announced from the end of April.

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