“Children of Honey” wins the RRI Doc Day Impact Edition Pitch

The East African Documentary Film Fund (DOCUBOX) and Documentary Africa (DocA) hosted Doc Day: Impact Edition, a unique documentary pitch event that brought together filmmakers, impact producers, and industry changemakers to explore film’s power in driving social transformation across East Africa.

Held on March 27 under DocA’s Real Reel Impact (RRI) project, the event featured powerful pitches, case studies, and groundbreaking collaborations in the East African documentary space. The top prize was awarded to “Children of Honey,” a documentary produced by Simona Nickmanova and directed by Jigar Ganatra, which is redefining impact-driven storytelling.

The other films that were considered include; “How to build a Library” by Chris King & Maia Lekow, “Widow’s Champion” by Zippy Kimundu, “Through their lens: Virunga’s Guardians of Truth” by Ally Kahashy, “The Woman who poked the Leopard” by Rosie Motene and “Searching for Amani” by Debra Aroko.

“Children of Honey” follows the ancient Hadzabe hunter-gatherer tribe, co-created with and told through the eyes of the community’s younger generation. The film explores their struggle to balance indigenous traditions with the pressures of modernization and climate change. With 90% of their ancestral land now gone, three young Hadzabe members pick up cameras to document their rarely seen culture, which teeters on the brink of disappearance.

Through a collaborative filmmaking approach, “Children of Honey” offers a fresh, immersive perspective on the relationship between humanity and nature, capturing an authentic and urgent story.