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Nick Read - Winner
The Slumdog Children of Mumbai
Shot in India, July-September 2009
True Vision Productions for Channel 4 – Dispatches
Shot over 3 months through the monsoon, Nick Read’s film captures the unvarnished reality of life for four children living in the slums and on the streets of Mumbai.
Seven-year-old Deepa lives next to an open rubbish dump and runs barefoot through Mumbai traffic selling flowers to help support her family; 11-year-old Salaam, who, a few weeks after running away from his abusive stepmother, lives rough outside the main railway station; and twins Hussan and Hussein, also 11, who risk cholera and infection fishing for scraps in a filthy canal so they can earn money to eat.
Since transmission, a Foundation set up by the film’s producers has raised money to fund the children's education and future welfare.
The judges said the film was beautifully-shot, deeply moving and profoundly shocking. One said: "The difficulties of filming with street children in Mumbai during the monsoon can’t be over-stated. This is exceptional camerawork."
Biography
Nick Read's career started at the National Film School. In the 1980’s he was an acclaimed news cameraman, covering many conflicts including Northern Ireland, Lebanon and Nicaragua.
His breakthrough as a documentary filmmaker came in the wake of Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution with his film about the secret police there. Since then he has shot, and often directed, over 40 broadcast documentaries in more than 70 countries.
He is currently making a film about runaway teenagers in the UK.
To read more about The Slumdog Children of Mumbai, go to the film's official website.
