Sheffield DocFest announces the launch of its Alternate Realities programme to open this year’s festival on 18 June at Sheffield’s Site Gallery. A cutting-edge immersive work, Collateral Echoes, is the centrepiece of this year’s Alternate Realities exhibition. From artist and filmmaker Baff Akoto, the powerful new installation commemorates the potential, personalities and memories of Black and Immigrant Britons disproportionately killed after police contact since 1969.

Collateral Echoes combines XR, moving image and immersive sound design to present first-person testimonies, archival imagery and performance. Including spoken prose from Paapa Essiedu and poetry by the late, great Benjamin Zephaniah, the exhibition memorialises those killed – and gives voice to the communities who survive them – in this exploration of nostalgia, loss, grief and joy.

This programme is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the British Film Institute Audience Projects Fund. Collateral Echoes premieres during Sheffield DocFest (18-23 June) and will remain open to the public until 13 July at Site Gallery.

Virtual Reality Cinema

Don’t miss the Virtual Reality Cinema! Make sure you visit Site Gallery’s Studio for a cinema experience like no other. Immerse yourself in boundary-pushing stories, from explorations of ADHD and protest movements, to a haunting, climate crisis-fuelled vision of the future. Come and interact with our exciting selection of bold VR pieces! The 2025 VR Cinema includes:

DOLLHOUSE for Queer Imaginaries
[Queer.Space, Electric South | South Africa 2024]
DOLLHOUSE for Queer Imaginaries reimagines home as a playful, shared VR space where queer communities reshape belonging through creativity, care, and collective imagination.

Speechless Witness of a Wandering Tree
[Aphra Taghizadeh, Kyoto Arts Center | Iran, Netherlands 2024]
A haunting VR journey into state violence in Iran, told through the eyes and memories of a protester deliberately blinded during a demonstration.

Impulse: Playing with Reality
[Anagram | UK & France 2024]
Narrated by Tilda Swinton, Impulse plunges you into the chaotic brilliance of ADHD—where intensity, creativity, and survival collide in a transformative mixed reality experience.

Walking Alone, Text You When I’m Home
[Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf | Germany | 2024]
A visceral 360° journey into the everyday reality of sexual harassment, told through personal stories and hauntingly abstract visuals.

Space for Action
[Big Anxiety Research Centre UNSW | Australia 2024]
An immersive journey into the hidden reality of domestic abuse, Space for Action gives voice to survivors and the silent systems that failed them.

Entrance to the Sheffield DocFest Alternatives Realities programme at Site Gallery is free and open to all.

sheffdocfest.com