Announcing the winner: The Whickers 2025 Durban Filmmart Bursary Winner

July 22, 2025

This year we were delighted to welcome long-time Whicker friend and now Whicker Ambassador, Sam Soko, to our team at Durban Filmmart.  On Monday 21st July Sam announced  our fourth annual Whicker DFM Bursary winner.   After an extremely competitive pitch from all projects, Sam was thrilled to announce that this year’s winner of the £3,000 documentary film seed fund is the project Vuka, directed by Matthew Robinson, South Africa

Vuka is an uplifting film set deep within the layered streets of Gugulethu, an impoverished township on the outskirts of Cape Town. With only a keyboard and an empty classroom, Fezeka public school consistently produces some of the country’s best choral talent. These young voices are fuelled by a culture of music that seeps through broken homes, where the resistance to their struggles finds its form in notes and sheet music. The film will follow the journey of three music students with aspirations to rise above their situation inspired by their teacher who never gives up on them.

Sam Soko said of the film “…… this film resonates with a gentle harmony that has the power to entertain, inspire, and acknowledge the struggles faced by many. It’s a film that will sing its way to audiences hearts.”

The Whickers continue to work with the huge and influential pan-African finance and co-production market, Durban Filmmart, to provide a bursary award to  a first-time, feature documentary maker from the African continent.  When selecting the projects at development stage, we look for one that tells an important story to which our mentoring and £3,000 can truly make a difference.

Find out more about the bursary scheme HERE.