Waiting for Mamu

Waiting for Mamu: The Story of Pushpa Basnet
2013, USA, Thomas Morgan, 40 min.
A conversation with Pushpa Basnet, designer Prabal Gurung, and the film’s executive producer Morgan Spurlock follows the screening.
6:00 – 6:30 PM: Meet and greet with Pushpa in the Serai Café at the Rubin (cash bar)
6:30 – 8:00 PM: Film and program with Morgan Spurlock,Prabal Gurung, and Pushpa
8:00 – 9:00 PM: A chance to mingle with Pushpa,Prabal Gurung, and Morgan Spurlock (cash bar)
In some places in Nepal, if a parent is sentenced to prison and they lack a guardian for their child, the child is imprisoned with the parent. Many of these children go to prison at a young age 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.
Waiting for Mamu shares the story of what it means for a child to grow up in prison and yet find hope in unlikely places. During a prison tour as part of her university studies, Pushpa Basnet encountered a young girl who tugged at her shawl and looked up at her and smiled. Pushpa promised the young girl’s mother she would be back to get her.
Seven years later, Pushpa, known as Mamu by the children, runs an organization that gives kids the chance to be kids during the day and have an education. Some return to the prison to be with their mothers at night, while some stay in her orphanage.
This film captures the hope of a child to be free from prison, even if just for the day, to find a childhood, and to find Mamu.

All programs are subject to change.
Presented with Utopia Foundation