Both festivals now take place in June; documentaries to be screened at both festivals will include James Marsh’s Project Nim.

Sheffield Doc/Fest and the Edinburgh International Film Festival are joining forces to jointly screen a number of documentaries at their forthcoming editions.

In its new June slot (June 8-12), Sheffield Doc/Fest will now be taking place just before the EIFF, which runs from June 15-26.The two festivals could potentially have been vying for films, but the new partnership means that a number of documentaries will be able to screen at both festivals, including James Marsh’ Project Nim, which world premiered at Sundance earlier this year.

Other documentaries to receive joint UK premieres will include Danfung Dennis’ Hell And Back Again, Dominic Allan’s Calvet, Mika Kaurismaki’s Mama Africa and Alma Har’el’s Bombay Beach.

Doc/Fest director Heather Croall said that the partnership “makes the UK the place to be in June for all documentary makers and documentary lovers.”

James Mullighan, the new director of EIFF added: “In these austere times, everyone in the creative industries needs to explore new collaborations, festivals included. We’ve always been passionate about our commitment to British and international documentariy and we’re delighted to welcome Sheffield to June.”