Channel 4 is lining up another personal punch with Saving Mum (working title), a new documentary for its First Cut strand, led by British South Asian creative Maleena Pone in her directorial debut.
The film documents Pone’s deeply personal mission to reconnect with her mother, Jasbir, after years of estrangement rooted in trauma, grief, and the fallout of alcoholism. What begins as an attempt at reconciliation grows into a cross-continental journey toward healing — culminating in a traditional Ayahuasca ceremony in Costa Rica that forces open long-buried emotional wounds.
Shot across two decades, the project draws from private journals, home videos, voice recordings, and photos, offering rare, unfiltered insight into generational cycles inside South Asian families. Pone, who brings nearly two decades of experience in journalism and digital storytelling, now turns the camera inward to explore what happens when women confront inherited silence head-on.
Produced by Dancing Ledge Productions (a Fremantle company) and Storytell-Her Studios, the film marks another step in Channel 4’s investment in underrepresented perspectives. Its creative team is predominantly made up of women of colour, a fact executive producer Fatima Salaria says reflects both the subject matter and the industry shift the network is committed to championing.
The film’s edit is being led by Zeb Achonu, a BAFTA and RTS award-winning editor known for White Nanny Black Child. Commissioning editor Rita Daniels called the film “hugely important” and praised its blend of intimate storytelling and cultural resonance.
Saving Mum will premiere later in 2025. It joins Channel 4’s First Cut lineup of bold, emerging voices using documentary to say what hasn’t been said.
