Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean

Director: Barnaby Thompson

Year: 2023

Noel Coward was one of the most important figures of the 20th Century. He was not only a great playwright, but also one of the best songwriters, directors and performers. Coward’s triumphs across theatre, film and music mark him out as one of only a handful of artists whose mastery has moulded the spirit of a nation. And yet he grew up poor, left school when he was only eleven and was full of contradictions – he was a sex symbol who was gay, a rebel who was also a patriot, his plays were set in glamorous drawing rooms while he lived in the smallest room in his mother’s boarding house. He was a true star, who had a style and character that personified the very idea of Englishness. And yet he ended his life in exile from the country he came to define. He was an extraordinary man that led an extraordinary life.

Director: Barnaby Thompson

Year: 2020

Feisty and quick-witted, Pixie (Olivia Cooke) decides it’s finally time to escape her rural hometown and criminal family – and exact some revenge along the way. Her plan: seduce a couple of gangsters into a high-stakes drug deal and make away with the loot. Everything goes awry when the robbery ignites an old rivalry between her father (Colm Meaney) and the dangerous priest-turned-mob-boss, Father McGrath (Alec Baldwin). When two naive friends (Ben Hardy, Daryl McCormack) accidentally save Pixie’s life, she turns on the charm and convinces them to tag along on this crazy dangerous adventure. With a body in the trunk and stolen drugs in the back seat, Pixie and the boys flee the wrath of McGrath and his gun-wielding gang of priests. But in order to survive, she must turn to her family for help, and embrace her gangster heritage one last time.

Director: Rich Felgate

Year: 2026

Told through the lives and motivations of those on the frontline, WE, THE HATED turns its camera on the people behind one of the most polarising protest movements in recent memory. What emerges goes deeper than placards and road blocks: these are individuals who have weighed up the personal consequences of action against the existential stakes of inaction. With fossil fuels driving both the climate crisis and global conflict, and governments increasingly cracking down on dissent, the film raises urgent questions about protest, power and what democracy actually means in practice. Director Rich Felgate, who is in a relationship with Just Stop Oil's founder, brings an insider closeness to the story whilst retaining enough balance to speak to audiences well beyond the already converted. Official Selection Sheffield DocFest 2026 - World premiere