Announcing the winner: The Whickers 2025 Docedge Kolkata Bursary Winner
On Sunday 9th March Mandakini Gahlot, The Whicker’s new ambassador for India announced the 7th winner of the Whicker Docedge Bursary Award. The £3,000 prize goes to first time documentary director Pallavi Paul and her producer, the Oscar nominated, Aman Mann (All That Breathes: 2022). Paul’s film, How Love Moves tells the captivating story of an ebullient 40 year old caretaker called Mohammed Shameem.
Shameen lives with his young family at his place of work, the Delhi Gate Qabristan. This hundred-year-old cemetery has witnessed the Partition and the making of India. For much of its long life it has been a place of solace and natural beauty, but danger now threatens. Someone has been desecrating the graves. Is this another attempt to provoke sectarian violence and feed the government’s ambitions to close down Muslim institutions? Shameen must solve the riddle to save his livelihood and his home. This intimate, charming and thought-provoking documentary,-in-development, shows India at a crossroads.
Paul joins such esteemed winners as Diem Ha Le (Children of The Mist 2020) and Vikram Singh (Camels Of The Sea 2023). This year there were 14 projects at the Forum that met the Whickers’ criteria, and the overall standard was the highest yet. Whickers’ Artistic Director, Jane Ray gave Honourable Mention certificates to Nepalese filmmaker Rajeela Shrestha and her producer Kedar Bhusal for their luminous and gentle film. A Place Where Rhododendrons Bloom introduces us to two boys living in a remote village who forsake their Hindu faith in the hope of getting an education at the Buddhist Monastery in Kathmandu. An Honourable Mention was also awarded to director and conservationist Thejavikho Chase for his beautiful, observational film Pigs and Hornets. This is set in rarely reported Nagaland and follows a young man who decides to return home from the city and live sustainably from the land.
Whicker founder Valerie Kleeman said that “both films have a home very close to my heart and all three are truly excellent“.
DocedgeKolkata is an annual documentary incubation-cum-pitching forum for Indian and Asian filmmakers. The forum is dedicated to the intensive development of creative storytelling skills and the creation of international co-production opportunities through a weeklong programme of incubation labs, film screenings,talks, and masterclasses is followed by a 3 day pitching forum in front of industry leaders from around the world.
Find out more about the bursary scheme HERE.