GRAMNet Film Series Launch: Even When I Fall

Even When I Fall

Documentary: UK (2017) | Directors: Sky Neal and Kate McLarnon | Running Time: 95 Mins | Nepali with English Subtitles

Sheetal and Saraswoti met as teenagers in a Kathmandu refuge, survivors of child trafficking to corrupt Indian circuses and brought back across the border to a Nepal they could barely remember.

Even When I Fall traces their journey over 6 years as they confront the families that sold them, seek acceptance within their own country and begin to build a future. They struggle against the odds and without education, but inadvertently these girls were left with a secret weapon by their captors – their breath-taking skills as circus artists. With 11 other young trafficking survivors, Sheetal and Saraswoti form Circus Kathmandu – Nepal’s first and only circus.

As they take the bold step of bringing an unrecognised art form to the stages of Nepal, they simultaneously challenge the deep-seated stigma against trafficked women. They discover the courage to perform in front of growing crowds, but unexpectedly they also find the strength and will to address their past. Through this personal journey they discover a sense of responsibility that comes with the stage – to use the crowd’s rapt attention to spread a message – to educate against modern slavery. When the devastating earthquakes hit Nepal they are drawn back to face its challenges with a new resolve.