The Whickers

27/08/2026

🏆 Kings of Babel wins The Whickers MENA Bursary 2026!

We’re delighted to announce that Iraqi-UK documentary project Kings of Babel has won The Whickers MENA Bursary 2026, receiving £3,000 in seed funding to support the film’s development.

Directed by Alex King, Qudoos Al-Maksoosi and Mouse Green, the project was unanimously selected from six shortlisted films by first-time filmmakers from across the Middle East and North Africa.

🎬 The 2026 shortlist:

10 Things I Hate About My Cousin, Niniko Lekish
14.5 Km Away From Our Dreams, Lilit Mkhitaryan
Dance with Me, Leila Basma
House No. 7, Rama Abdi
Street Poets, Shadi Tabibzadeh
The Lost Oasis, Syrine Thamine & Armstrong-Holding

Kings of Babel takes us inside Iraq’s youth motorbike gangs and the underground world of Tafliq, a vibrant subculture built around motorbike stunts, particularly wheelies on inexpensive Iranian bikes.

Behind the death-defying stunts, huge crowds and online celebrity lies a more complex story of frustrated ambition, collective grief and intergenerational trauma.

The filmmakers said:

“Documenting Iraq's most controversial subculture, while keeping our characters safe, has been particularly challenging… support from the Whickers MENA Bursary has been pivotal in allowing us to complete our final shoot and bring our characters' narratives to completion.”

🌟 Special Mention: The Lost Oasis

We’re also delighted to give a Special Mention to The Lost Oasis by Syrine Thamine and Alexander Armstrong-Holding.

The film tells the untold story of a human disaster unfolding in Gabès, Tunisia, following a Tunisian expat who returns home to stand alongside communities forced to live, resist and survive on poisoned land.

Whickers founder and trustee Valerie Kleeman said:

“The Lost Oasis and The Kings Of Babel are both excellent projects … I lean towards the Iraqi stunt bikers as here is a freshness and energy that we seldom see.”

👏 Congratulations to all our shortlisted filmmakers!

🔗 Find out more about The Whickers MENA Bursary.

Alex King .pro Syrine Thamine

20/08/2026

Our annual Whickers Team Away Day happened yesterday! 💛❤️😍

The team headed down to beautiful East Sussex to spend the day with our lovely colleague Jane Mote WilmingtonNC/Beech MountainNC in her beautiful neck of the woods. 🌿🌊

It may look like we were just having fun ... hanging out in listed, thatched cottages, taking in beautiful views, trying on hats, searching for shells on the beach and laughing … but in between all the laughs, the magic happened! Yes, we actually managed to get through a fair bit of work too! 😉

So, keep your eyes peeled for our Film & TV, and Podcast Pitch, call dates for The Whickers Funding Awards 2027!!!
(clue ... remain vigilant in the second half of November!) 👀

Also, if you haven't already completed this year's Cost of Docs survey, head to our bio for the link. You’ll be in with a chance of winning Industry passes to Sheffield DocFest 2027! 🎟️

What a fun, creative, exciting day we had and we're all so looking forward to what the next Whickers year brings.

Jane Ray Jane Ray Curtis Gallant Denise Barren Jane Mote

29/07/2026

We are absolutely thrilled that 'Concrete Land', a Whicker Finalist in 2021, will make its World Premiere at the Locarno Film Festival, selected for the Semaine de la Critique competition! 🎉

What began with the story of a remarkable Palestinian woman and her wonderfully sassy sheep has grown, through years of dedication, love, tears and joy, into this extraordinary film.

Concrete Land follows the inspiring Najar family in Amman, Jordan, and we couldn't be happier to see this beautiful documentary receive the international recognition it deserves.

Huge congratulations to the entire filmmaking team, we can't wait for audiences in Locarno to experience it. ❤️

Concrete Land
A film by Asmahan Bkerat Asmahan Bkerat | أسمهان بكيرات 🇵🇸
Ban Maraqa بان مرقة
Jane Mote
Soko Sam
Niels Pagh Andersen sh
Hamza Hamida
Mohammad El Amaireh

26/06/2026

15/06/2026

Our 2026 Podcast Pitch & Film & TV Award in 1 minute! 🕺🏻

Thank you so much for all of our incredible finalists who made this weekend such a joy and another huge congratulations to our winners 🎉

14/06/2026

We’re excited to announce the winners of our Film & TV Funding Awards 2026 🏆

Tommaso Barbetta has received our Film & TV Development Award for his project ‘Welcome to Our Bathhouse’. He’s taking home a funding award of £25,000 from Sheffield DocFest to help further develop his project.

Congratulations to co-directors Jigar Ganatra & Emanuel Musa Marco, the winners of our £120,000 Film & TV Funding Award! We are thrilled to announce that their film ‘Children Of Honey’ was chosen as this year’s Whicker Winner 🏆

Huge thank you to all of our finalists and judges who make so special. Welcome to the Whickers family! ✨

14/06/2026

This year’s Podcast Pitch Winners are Shirley Abraham and Tihany Sengupta, taking home £15,000 for their project ‘The Many Gendered Mothers of My Heart’ ❤️

Chirae Cannon won our £5,000 Development Award with ‘The Riverbank’

Congratulations and huge thanks to all of our finalists for their brilliant pitches yesterday morning 👏

13/06/2026

Our finalists have travelled from all over the world, via plane, train & automobile, to arrive at Sheffield DocFest 2026! ✈️

Huge congratulations to our Podcast Pitch finalists who pitched this morning & good luck to our Film & TV finalists for tomorrow ✨

Find out our winners at the Crucible Theatre at the Awards Ceremony tomorrow evening 🏆