A Short Film Packing a Big Punch: The Whickers First Short Film Award is Announced at Folkestone Film Festival

The English seaside resort and fishing port of Folkestone is home to one of the most vibrant new documentary festivals in the world. The festival, now in its 5th year, is where the Whickers chose to launch their first ever short film award on 26th October 2025. The Whickers Artistic Director Jane Ray said “We opted for Folkestone as, despite being small, it is fantastically well curated and tremendous fun. It has long been on our minds to do something to recognise the significance of short form international documentary. So, when Festival co-director, James Collie, approached us about sponsoring a prize for emerging talent in short-form it was a no-brainer”

From a carefully selected short list of 8 films, the first prize went to Mos Hannan and Usayd Younis, for their 30 minute film “After Eight“.  This powerful documentary, which premiered at Folkestone Film Fest, tells the shocking story of Satpal Ram. In the well-crafted mix of archive and eyewitness testimony, he speaks for the first time about his 24 year prison ordeal following a racist attack in a Birmingham curry house in 1986.

Mos told us that this project is deeply personal. “As a British-Bangladeshi, I come from a community that has sustained the Curry House trade for over five decades. My father owned a restaurant and around the time Satpal was attacked, he too was violently assaulted and hospitalised. I grew up working in these establishments from the age of fourteen, witnessing first-hand the racial hostility our community faced. Later experiencing racialised violence myself led me to find Satpal’s case.

Satpal’s journey stands as a powerful testament to our shared struggle, not only because of his extraordinary courage, but because of the campaigners who fought relentlessly for his release, proving what collective resistance can accomplish. Through this film, we seek to honour that legacy while sparking urgent dialogue about the systems that continue to harm marginalised communities.”

Usayd Younis said after receiving the award “As a producer and director with my own production company I often get approached with film ideas, but this was different. Mos presented an idea that clearly had legs and he already had a brilliant teaser“.

“Yes, we do get asked about the title;” Younis continued.  “After Eight’ refers to the wafer-thin mint that’s traditionally served at the end of the curry house meal. Originally, we were looking at the ugly side of curry culture generally in Britain; the idea that it was OK to get drunk, get a cheap meal and then get abusive with the waiters for sport. However, when we started going through Mos’s archive on Satpal we realised we needed to make the whole film about this one case, but the name stuck.”

Jane Ray added “Satpal’s quiet dignity on screen, despite decades of institutional racism, was compelling. This deeply thought provoking film is an iconic testament to survival and a very worthy winner of our inaugural Short Doc Award.” She has since used an extract from the film to illuminate a Whicker panel session at IDFA, “So, within days it travelled from one of the smallest to the biggest documentary festival in Europe.”

Mos Hannan says it has been a roller coaster ride since the win. “After Folkestone we had a sold out screening with Counterpoints Arts at Rich Mix in Shoreditch, London with a small DIY exhibition space of all the archive footage I’ve collected over the years. The screening went really well. We had campaigners from across the world fly in and even ex-prisoners who were inside with Satpal came together to honour his story. I was so surprised to see them, it was a truly magical evening!”

The next screening is 10th December at London’s Bertha Doc House and other European and US screenings are in the pipeline.

“Headland” by Mariana Duarte received the honourable mention for being a beautifully shot and deeply humane film with extraordinary sound design by Jamie Perera. It is about shifting shorelines and the migrant in all of us.

The Whickers would like to thank “Mother Vera” co-director, Cecile Embleton for her help with judging.

The winners received £250 from the Whickers and one of the coolest red perspex seagull trophies from Folkestone Film Festival.

More about the festival here here. More about the film here. 

Image: Usayd Younis and Mos Hannan at Folkestone Film Festival and the poster for After Eight fearturing Satpal Ram