Waiting for Mamu exclusive online release with 100% proceeds benefiting children in Nepal


Waiting For Mamu Exclusive M-GO PremiereNEW YORK CITY, November 12, 2014 – As its first cause marketing initiative, M-GO, a premium transactional video on demand (VOD) service and joint venture between Technicolor and DreamWorks Animation, and Reframed Pictures, an independent production company, today announced the exclusive availability of the awarding winning Waiting for Mamu for rental or purchase on mgo.com. The short documentary film tells the story of Pushpa Basnet and children in Nepal that grow up incarcerated while their mothers serve prison sentences. Basnet, known as Mamu by the children, runs The Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) that provides these children with an education and chance for stable futures.  Shine Global is proud to have been involved with supporting this film.

“As a movie and television streaming platform, M-GO decided ‘filmanthropy’ is an important space where our company can contribute,” said M-GO Senior Vice President of Content Cameron Douglas. “We’re excited to partner with Reframed Pictures to support a film that carries such a strong message of social activism.”

To rent or buy Waiting for Mamu for as little as $2.99, visit www.mgo.com/mamu. As the exclusive platform for the film’s first 90 days, M-GO and Kinonation, a VOD cloud service, will donate every dollar spent directly to the ECDC.

“Reframed Pictures seeks to create and support media that is not only entertaining, but also inspires action,” said Waiting for Mamu Producer and Reframed Pictures Co-Founder Thomas Morgan. “Our partnership with M-GO will help raise both awareness and funds for the ECDC.”

The film’s executive producers, Susan Sarandon and Morgan Spurlock, will co-host a special screening of Waiting for Mamu along with Parabal Gurung and Basnet at the Rubin Museum in New York on November 12, 2014. The event will celebrate the ECDC’s work and generate awareness for the film’s release on mgo.com.

“Most people see an injustice, get upset, do a short-term something and move on. Because to do more would mean interrupting their lives,” said Susan Sarandon. “Pushpa dared to forge a new path, against all odds, to give incarcerated children an education and a future. To give them love and build their self esteem. To give them hope. She does all this without any claim to their future. Her story is an important one that should be told and I’m honored to have had the opportunity to help make that possible.”

Later this month, Reframed Pictures will again team up with M-GO for Storied Streets, a film about homelessness in the United States, to complete the launch of M-GO’s first cause marketing initiative. Storied Streets will be screened on 750 university campuses across the U.S. on November 16 as part of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.

Outside of the US, the film is available to watch on Vimeo on Demand.

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