Film and TV Funding Award Winners

Women of My Life | Zahraa Ghandour (2023 Winner)

I Want to Kill My Grandfather | Lilyana Torres & Carlos Morales (2023 Runner-up)

Our Hoolocks | Ragini Nath & Chinmoy Sonowal (2022 Winner)

Re-Evaluation | Toby Bull (2022 Runner-Up)

Kamay | Ilyas Yourish & Shahrokh Bikaran (2021 Winner)

Red Herring | Kit Vincent (2021 Runner-up)

Nyandeng | Akuol de Mabior (2020 Winner)

The Hermit of Treig | Lizzie MacKenzie (2020 Runner-up)

Great Photo, Lovely Life | Amanda Mustard (2019 Winner)

AZ House | Anna Oliker (2019 Runner-up)

Mirror Mirror on the Wall | Sascha Schöeberl (2018 Winner)

Disappearing Village | Megumi Inman (2018 Second Award)

Hope Frozen | Pailin Wedel (2017 Winner)

Hope Frozen

Silent Men | Duncan Cowles (2017 Second Award)

We Were Kings | Alex Bescoby & Max Jones (2016 Winner)

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Americaville | Adam Smith (2016 Second Award)

We Were Kings | Alex Bescoby & Max Jones (2016 Winner)

Alex Bescoby and Max Jones were the first ever recipient of our £80,000 Funding Award for their project We Were Kings. Focusing on the forgotten monarchy of Myanmar, this documentary follows a family who have spent a century living incognito in their own homeland. After King Thibaw’s death, the country was plunged into decades of civil war and in order to stay out of prison (or at least alive) the royals were forced to hide their identities. Now after an extraordinary year of change, King Thibaw’s great-grandson will attempt to reunite his kin and bring the king’s body back to its righteous homeland.

The world premiere of We Were Kings took place at the British Library in partnership with Open City Documentary Festival in September 2017, and the Myanmar premiere was held in Mandalay in November 2017. The film has been broadcast on television channels across the world. Visit Grammar Productions for more information.

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Hope Frozen | Pailin Wedel (2017 Winner)

The 2017 Funding Award prize was awarded to Thai-American filmmaker Pailin Wedel for her documentary,  Hope Frozen. What happens when a Buddhist scientist from Bangkok decides to freeze his daughter’s brain? When laser scientist Sahatorn’s baby daughter tragically dies of cancer, he invests in a dream of the future that one day she will be awoken and given another chance of life. A tale of grief and scientific progress, this is the story of how a 2 year old girl became the youngest human ever to be cryopreserved. You can watch the trailer here.

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Mirror Mirror on the Wall | Sascha Schöberl (2018 Winner)

A Chinese plastic surgeon and self-proclaimed artist seizes the spotlight for never-seen-before performances. This is a modern tale about vanity and self- glorification as well as an extreme investigation into humanity set against the backdrop of China today. 

Director: Sascha Schöberl is a German director and DP based in Beijing. He holds a degree in film making arts from the London Middlesex University. As DP he has worked for a wide variety of feature length documentaries. As a director, Mirror Mirror on the Wall is his feature length debut.

Judge Harriet Armston-Clarke said: “Mirror Mirror on the Wall really gets ‘under the skin’ of our beauty-obsessed world, putting selfie-culture on the operating table and calling into question the impact this is having on us all – both as individuals and society.

 

Director: Sascha Schöberl
Production Companies: DOCDAYS Productions GmbH (Germany), CNEX Foundation Limited (China)

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Disappearing Village | Megumi Inman (2018 Second Award)

A 300-year-old Japanese village is on the brink of extinction. But can sake, Japan’s national sacred drink, save it from disappearing forever? 

Director: Megumi Inman is a British-Japanese filmmaker with experience making documentaries for both UK and Japanese broadcasters including the BBC and NHK. 

Director: Megumi Inman
Production Company: Sweet Take Studios (UK)

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Americaville | Adam Smith (2016 Second Award)

Adam Smith’s first feature documentary, Americaville, tells the story of a community in China. A large group of residents of Beijing who have escaped an increasingly uninhabitable city to live out their American Dreams in the Chinese replica of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 

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Silent Men | Duncan Cowles (2017 Second Award)

Silent Men is the first documentary by Scottish filmmaker Duncan Cowles. A frank and at times humorous look at masculinity and its role in society, the film will investigate the cultural norms and social conditioning that render suicide the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK and that make men three times more likely than women to become alcohol dependent. Silent Men is a road-trip around the UK with Duncan Cowles, who hopes to find answers to his increasing fear of being intimate with those closest to him. 

 

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AZ House | Anna Oliker

In a Jerusalem suburb, fifteen young American drug addicts, abandoned by their ultra Orthodox Jewish families, share both pain and great hope that Eric, another recovering addict, will save them from certain death. AZ House allows a rare glimpse into the lives of these young addicts during the most trying time of their lives, as they deal not only with recovery but with exile from the insular ultra Orthodox Jewish community in which they were raised. 

Director: Anna Oliker is a filmmaker from Jerusalem, Israel. AZ House is her first film. 

Judge Mandy Chang said: “What makes this film fascinating is the way that it takes an urgent global issue – the opioid epidemic – and views it through the lens of an often closed culture, the Orthodox Jewish community. The film, set in a volatile environment in Jerusalem and following a group of complex and troubled young men characters, has all the ingredients for an emotional and compelling film, full of twists and turns.” 

 

Director: Anna Oliker
Production Company: Heymann Brothers Films

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Great Photo, Lovely Life | Amanda Mustard

Amanda, a photojournalist, returns home to turn her investigative lens on the serial sexual abuse committed by her grandfather. Through the accounts of both perpetrator and his victims, she pursues a high-stakes journey to examine the systemic injustices and culture of silence in pursuit of truth and healing for her family.

Director: Amanda Mustard is an award-winning American photographer and journalist based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Judge Patrick Hurley said: “Amanda’s film deals with one of the most harrowing and perplexing of subjects from such a proximate position to a perpetrator, her grandfather. We found her director’s statement to be highly genuine and sincere.”

Director: Amanda Mustard

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Nyandeng | Akuol de Mabior

As South Sudan hangs in the balance of a tenuous peace agreement, Akuol’s mother, Nyandeng prepares to become one of the country’s five vice-presidents. Her mission is to safeguard her late husband, John Garang’s vision for South Sudan’s people, their country, and their family.

Director: Akuol de Mabior is a South Sudanese filmmaker who aims to create stories for the screen that facilitate African imaginations and encourage us to think differently about ourselves and our futures.

Judge Gary Kam said: “A daughter portrays her mother’s fight, as one of the vice presidents of South Sudan, to build the foundation of peace and prosperity in the post-civil war nation. With unprecedented access to the protagonist, Nyandeng provides an intimate insight into a politician’s love, hope and fear as a mother and politician who tries to complete the political legacy of her late husband.”

 

When Akuol heard she was a finalist she responded: “I’m laughing, crying, grateful, humbled, energised and can’t stop smiling.”

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The Hermit of Treig | Lizzie MacKenzie

What causes a person to consider stepping away from society, to lead a life of isolation, far from the modern world? This is a tender and intimate film about an elderly hermit in the Highlands of Scotland who opens his life to director Lizzie MacKenzie, whilst he comes to terms with his increasingly frail body and questions whether he will be able to live out his last years in the wilderness he calls home.

Director: Lizzie MacKenzie is a self-shooting director who focuses on characters at the edge of society, who remind us of our place within the natural world.

Judge Oli Harbottle said: “At a time when we are all experiencing living in self-isolation, this is an irresistible look at someone who has chosen that very lifestyle for the past thirty years out of choice rather than necessity. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Scottish Highlands, the fact the director has spent seven years to win the trust of the film’s subject allows for what promises to be a truly tender and intimate portrait of someone living far away from the hectic nature of modern life.”

 

When Lizzie heard she was a finalist she responded: “Can’t wait to tell Ken… I’ll have to send a pigeon!”

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Kamay | Ilyas Yourish & Shahrokh Bikaran

After a young girl from the mountains of central Afghanistan mysteriously commits suicide inside Kabul University, her family’s calm rural life enters into a painful and exhausting process. Her parents are now looking for justice in one of the most corrupt judicial systems in the world; while Freshta, their younger daughter, attempts to gain admission to the same university to complete what her sister had started.

Three years ago, Ilyas Yourish and Shahrokh Bikaran, decided to tell the story of Kamay; their own story. Born and raised in Afghanistan and having traveled the country extensively, both of them felt uniquely positioned to observe their homeland through their lenses. Shahrokh has graduated in 2016 from The Tehran Film School, where he studied directing, score composition, and Audio Engineering. He has since been involved in the creation of more than ten documentaries. Ilyas has graduated in 2014 from the Faculty of Journalism at Kabul University. Since 2011, he has worked as a journalist, researcher, and filmmaker. Ilyas and Shahrokh have recently established their Afghanistan-based Film Production Company.

Mandy Chang, Commissioning Editor of BBC Storyville and a member of the judging panel, said about Kamay: “The judges were struck by an incredibly cinematic story that shows a different side of a country we haven’t seen before. It’s about the quest for justice and the role of women in a society trying to free itself from the past and find hope for the future.”

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Red Herring | Kit Vincent

In the midst of shocking family revelations, a young filmmaker is diagnosed with terminal cancer. What follows is an intimate and darkly humorous journey of a family’s attempt to make sense of their upended past and disrupted future.

Kit Vincent is a director/producer with an interest in character driven stories, that use humour to explore nuanced, real life drama. Kit began his career working on flagship documentary series’ for Channel 4 and other UK broadcasters and attended the Sundance Talent Forum as part of the Documentary Film Programme in 2019. Red Herring is his debut feature.

Gary Kam, Oscar-Winning Producer and a member of our judging panel said: “The director is on his way with a camera. The destination he is taking us to is not an unavoidable place but a way of appreciating the excursion on earth. With courage, openness and sometimes humour, the director’s cinematic journey takes us to a secret destination; The meaning of life, family and love. With the support from The Whickers, the jury hopes that this project will become a trail to follow in an inevitable story that we have to become the protagonists.”

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Our Hoolocks | Ragini Nath & Chinmoy Sonowal

Sidhanta, a fisherman in Assam, has been fighting to protect the Hoolock Gibbons, India’s fast-vanishing ape species, in his village. However, this endearing tale of human-animal coexistence is threatened when a nearby oilfield disrupts the delicate ecosystem and his relationship with the Hoolocks, who are dying at an alarming rate.

Ragini Nath is a documentary filmmaker from Northeast India whose work is a medley of visual imagery and reflective storytelling on resource politics and climate justice. Chinmoy Sonowal is a filmmaker exploring visual storytelling through creative documentaries, with a keen interest in the environment and wildlife. 

When Ragini and Chimnoy heard they were finalist’s, they said: “When we opened the email, it took us a few seconds to register what just happened! We are so overwhelmed and honoured that our film is one of the finalists for The Whickers. This means so much to us and will be such an amazing platform to showcase our story from the corners of Northeast India.”

Jane Mote, Editorial Consultant at The Whickers and a member of our judging panel said: “This a film that has so much too offer – stunning scenery, natural history (with a rare colony of gibbons seen up close) and a community that celebrates the environmental riches surrounding them. But the realities of the outside world, and the choices that individuals have to make to balance their short-term needs with the longer-term needs of nature become the driving narrative that casts a shadow over the fragility of their lives. This is a relatable, accessible story told with wit and humanity, which is a mirror for us all.”

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Re-Evaluation | Toby Bull

Grieving his parents’ untimely deaths, filmmaker Toby Bull digs up their diaries and home videos, discovering the abuse they faced as children – and their hopes of healing through a secretive psychotherapy movement called Re-Evaluation Counselling. Interviewing his parents’ surviving friends and undergoing RC therapy himself, Toby grapples with this controversial organisation, in the hope that it will help him to understand and overcome his own traumatic childhood.

Toby Bull is an award-winning English filmmaker whose films have screened internationally at festivals like Visions du Réel, Viennale, MoMI First Look, and Hamptons IFF, and who is currently making work about his parents’ untimely deaths and their participation in a secretive psychotherapy movement.

When Toby heard he was a finalist, he said: “Wow! I’ve been sitting with this story for many years so I’m extremely excited to be nominated for The Whickers and to receive such an amazing opportunity to start sharing this project with the wider world.”

Jo Lapping, Head of Factual Acquisitions at the BBC and a member of our judging panel said: “We were moved by the multiple layers of this personal story; the emotional twists and turns it offers along the way combined with the social history of a particular moment in time. We were also impressed by the Director’s written treatment which showed the potential for an insightful and compelling voice.”

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Re-Evaluation | Toby Bull

Grieving his parents’ untimely deaths, filmmaker Toby Bull seeks solace from their diaries and home videos. Instead, he uncovers a horror story. Their archive seems to reveal the ongoing trauma of childhood abuse – and their hope of healing through a secretive psychotherapy movement called Re-Evaluation Counselling. Interviewing his parents’ surviving friends and undergoing RC therapy himself, Toby grapples with this controversial organisation, in the hope that it will help him to re-evaluate the past he thought he knew.

Toby Bull is an award-winning English filmmaker whose short films have screened internationally at festivals like Visions du Réel, Viennale, MoMI First Look, and Hamptons IFF.

When Toby heard he won the award, he said: “I’m extremely excited and honoured to receive this year’s runner-up award from The Whickers. This development fund come at the perfect time as it will enable my team and I to further develop the project by answering key questions about the film’s final form at this early stage, before taking it out into the world.”

Oli Harbottle, Head of Distribution and Acquisitions at the BBC and a member of our judging panel said: The judges were all incredibly impressed by Toby’s pitch, his film promises to use his own deeply personal story to address universal themes of trauma, grief and our relationships with our parents. It’s exciting to support Toby as he continues to unearth more material and we look forward to seeing the direction in which the film goes.

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Our Hoolocks | Ragini Nath & Chinmoy Sonowal

Sidhanta, a fisherman in Assam, has been fighting to protect the Hoolock Gibbons, India’s fast-vanishing ape species, in his village. However, this endearing tale of human-animal coexistence is threatened when a nearby oilfield disrupts the delicate ecosystem and his relationship with the Hoolocks, who are dying at an alarming rate.

Ragini Nath is a documentary filmmaker from Northeast India whose work is a medley of visual imagery and reflective storytelling on resource politics and climate justice. Chinmoy Sonowal is a filmmaker exploring visual storytelling through creative documentaries, with a keen interest in the environment and wildlife. 

When Ragini accepted the award, she said: “This is so overwhelming and I cannot sum up the words what it means to keep going with the film. I would really like to thank The Whickers and Sheffield DocFest for giving us the support to bring a story from the corners of North East India to a much wider audience. More than that, I would really like to thank Valerie, Jane, Emily and the jury for giving a platform for first time filmmakers coming from Ukraine, China, Germany, Cameroon and the UK. We really felt a sense of community and the courage to go forward with the stories we want to tell.”

Jo Lapping, Head of Factual Acquisitions at the BBC and a member of our judging panel said: Ragini and Chinmoy’s passionate commitment to telling the story of this community and the beautiful animals they are endeavouring to protect, promises to provide the audience with an immersive and moving insight into their world.

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I Want to Kill My Grandfather | Lilyana Torres & Carlos Morales

The director’s approach using a detective and a film crew to uncover her family’s past is witty and compelling. But, beneath the conceit of her mission, she is deadly serious about uncovering Mexico’s criminal underworld and the effect it has on families. Here is a film that works on many levels and makes a difficult subject accessible. 

Sharing the same birthday is not the only coincidence between the two, both are documentary filmmakers that tell intimate, moving stories. Lilyana Torres has worked as Development Executive and Creative Producer with work that expands into hybrid formats. Carlos Morales is a screenwriter dedicated to telling stories about migration and queer experiences. His protagonists have been heard at different festivals such as Sundance, Berlinale, and Hot Docs.

Upon hearing she was a finalist, Lilyana told us: “I have no words!”

Sam Soko, a documentary filmmaker based in Nairobi, Kenya, and a member of our judging panel said: “Stylistically it pushes the genre in a direction I find really appealing and interesting. I found the comparisons to Mexican B Movies in the trailer made me chuckle the whole time. The personal layers of the story add huge potential.”

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Women of My Life | Zahraa Ghandour

When Zahraa was nine years old, she witnessed her best friend Noor being dragged away by her family, never to be seen again. This powerful and compelling investigation into the ‘disappeared’ women and children of Iraq does not flinch from discussing the complicity of other women within the system. The Iraqi Director says that “it is time to be freed of the frames that the media has always tried to squeeze us in”.

Zahraa Ghandour is a filmmaker, producer, and independent actor. She is the executive producer and co-founder of KARADA films production company based in Baghdad. Starting her career as a writer, TV presenter, and TV documentaries director, she also built a freelance career as a director and producer over the past decade. As an actor, she has won several international awards for roles in productions on Channel 4 and Hulu. She was one of the International Emerging Film Talents Association’s Global Film Expression initiative winners in 2021.

When Zahraa found out she was a finalist, she told us that “Being part of The Whickers is exactly what we need at this stage of our project”.

Jo Lapping, Head of Factual Acquisitions at the BBC and member of our judging panel said: “The narrative of this project works so well. I want to know what happens. You get drawn into a hidden world that we very rarely hear about. Being able to hear these women’s voices is powerful and crucially important.”

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