Waiting for Mamu premiere at IFC Center

Executive Producer Susan Sarandon, Director & Producer Thomas Morgan, and Shine's Susan MacLaury at the Waiting for Mamu premiere August 23rd, 2013

Executive Producer Susan Sarandon, Director & Producer Thomas Morgan, and Shine’s Susan MacLaury at the Waiting for Mamu premiere

August 23rd, 2013, New York — Waiting for Mamu, produced in association with Shine, had its theatrical premiere at the IFC Center in New York City.  Shine Global’s Susan MacLaury and Alexandra Blaney attended the premiere along with Director and Producer Thomas Morgan and Executive Producer Susan Sarandon.

In this short documentary, 28-year-old Pushpa Basnet struggles to provide a typical childhood for the more than 150 children she has rescued from the floors of Nepal’s prisons.  Pushpa, or Mamu as she is called by the children, feeds, clothes, educates, and loves her children while struggling to pay rent and overcome the discrimination of landlords and neighbors when she is surprised by worldwide recognition as the 2012 CNN Hero of the year.

As one of the poorest countries in the world (according to UNICEF, 55% of the population lives below the international poverty line), Nepal has none of the social safety nets that exist in most western countries.   When parents are sent to prison, there is nowhere for their children to go.  Many enter prison at a young age with their parents and are released to the world at age 18, with no life skills or support system, knowing nothing of the world but what they experienced in a jail cell, creating a vicious cycle of poverty and crime.  The film shares Pushpa’s passion to help and the story of what it means for a child to grow up in prison and yet find hope in unlikely places.

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Short Documentary at the Traverse City Film Festival, the 40 minute film will play daily at 12:40pm through August 29th at the IFC Center (323 Ave of the Americas, New York City).  Buy your tickets at the door or online at movietickets.com.  The film is also an official selection at the 2014 Sedona International Film Festival.

View the trailer and learn more on the project  page: https://shineglobal.org/projects/waiting-for-mamu/

 

Waiting for Mamu at IFC ad