Former Ghurkha’s Short Film Maya At L.A. Cinefest

Kathmandu, Nepal

While filmmaker Veemsen Lama’s last released short film Maya won the award for Best International Short Film 2016 at the London Independent Film Festival two weeks ago, the project is already up for a new laurel at the L.A. Cinefest. Inspired by real events, the idea for Maya was born after film director Mr Lama visited Nepal a few years ago, where he witnessed the horrifying poverty some Nepalese children were living in.

Shot in Nepali language, Maya tells the story of three homeless children – Maya, Bikram and Kancha – who escape from the slave traders and find themselves trapped in the heart of Kathmandu, penniless and wandering in the streets with only their hopes and dreams of happiness. Through Maya, Veemsen wanted to raise awareness about child exploitation, child work and child trafficking. Many Nepalese children are being trafficked to India for circus work, brothels, etc. Veemsen wanted to make a film against that.

After a week or so of filming in the Nepalese capital only a few weeks before the devastating earthquake, it was a wrap for Maya and the short film was on its way to post-production. The film crew invested a lot of hope in the project, and a year later its director of photography, Arran Green, recalls all of them – “hope that the film has done something towards raising awareness for the children of Nepal, hope it has done something to raise awareness for the earthquakes that stroke the country in April 2015, and hope that the $2,000 the team managed to raise did good and helped the people who suffered.”

But Arran also mentions the hope to see Maya ‘encourage filmmakers to explore and create stories from amazing experiences around the world’.

Watch The Trailer: https://youtu.be/u9oA5R7Bx84

Vote For Maya: http://lacinefest.weebly.com/april1

Directed by Veemsen Lama @JaviyaFilms http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5931043/

Produced by Tom Cullingham @TomCullingham http://www.imdb.com/name/nm6961603

Written by Tayo Odesanya @anecdotewriter http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7272554/

Edited by Biki Gurung http://www.imdb.com/name/nm6635107/

Cinematography by Arran Green @ArranAGreen http://www.imdb.com/name/nm6656252/

Music by Ben Winwood http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7149190/

Starring: Subash Dangi – Bicycle Guy http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7267849/

Shyam Khadka – Carpenter http://www.imdb.com/name/nm6635109/

Aakash Malla – Kancha http://www.imdb.com/name/nm7267846/