Shop Dada – Short Documentary by Darshan Gajjar

Directed, shot, edited, (even composed) by myself.

Shop Dada is a short documentary I created for the 2025 Filmhub x DocFest Filmmaker Challenge, a competition for filmmakers aged 18-25 to submit a 3-minute documentary around the theme “People & Places.” I chose to tell a personal story—my granddad’s story—and was honored when the film won the competition.

With the £1,000 prize, I am now developing Shop Dada – The Cornershop That Built Us, a follow-up project that explores the history and impact of our family’s corner shop. This ongoing project blends personal history with the wider story of community, culture, and the everyday lives that shape our neighborhoods.

Thank you Nayungma Rai for helping once again <3.

An elderly man with gray hair drinking from a white mug in a dimly lit room.
Man bending down outside in a backyard, opening a bag, seen from a doorway or window.
An elderly man with a bald head, wearing a light blue shirt and dark pants, is bent over picking up trash from a grassy backyard. The yard is enclosed by a tall wooden fence, and there's a small vine growing on a post in the corner. The man is holdin
A street scene with a man walking on the sidewalk past a small convenience store with a yellow and green sign. There are parked cars and residential houses in the background.
An older man stands inside a small grocery or convenience store filled with shelves of snacks, drinks, and food products. The man is looking to the side, wearing a light-colored shirt and dark pants.
Three framed photographs on a beige wall. The top left photo is of a young man in graduation attire holding a diploma, with the caption 'Buckinghamshire New University.' The top right photo is of a group of five people, also with the same caption. Th
Close-up of an elderly man with white hair, wearing a white shirt, sitting against a beige wall with a framed picture in the background.
A group of pigeons on a grassy backyard, with a wooden fence and some greenery in the background.
Close-up of a hand wearing a black glove gripping a wooden surface in a dimly lit environment.