Jumla Tomorrow

Sophie arrived in Kathmandu to find a national strike (bandah) in place in Nepal. This meant that normal taxis were not running. The streets were full of people wandering and children playing. The usual mayhem of tooting motorcycles and gridlocked traffic completely gone. This also meant that picking her up from the airport was a bit more challenging. There were tourist buses (with special green plates) still able to move about the traffic-free streets, so after rearranging a few things, she found her way to a comfortable room after her gruelling 36 hour journey from Los Angeles.

No time for jet-lag as the whole team (Soph, Miranda, Soraj & Nisha) is set to leave for Jumla tomorrow morning. We are all bracing ourselves for the cold as the ground is covered in snow there - and if I thought Kathmandu was cold in the winter with no heating, I better hold on to my ear muffs as this is going to be a whole new level of chill.

We are all very excited to be returning to Jumla and grateful to our supporters that made our recent fund-raising campaign such a success.

Happy New Year! We Did It!

We are thrilled to say that we reached our target for the indiegogo campaign. Thank you to everyone who contributed to make it possible. Once again, we are moved by the generosity of everyone from old friends to new acquaintances to even complete strangers!

This film is truly being brought to life by the investment of so many - for us, this makes it everybody's and we intend to do you all proud.

We are preparing for the next shoot in February. Sophie returns to Kathmandu and the next day we head straight to Jumla with our team, Soraj and Nisha.

And the story continues...

Countdown to New Year's Eve

We have launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for the next round of shooting in 2013! We have until New Year's Eve to raise $9999!

Please watch the trailer to see excerpts of footage from our previous shoots to get a real sense of the work we are doing!

Click here or on the widget to the right.

Thanks for your support.

Miranda & Sophie

Back to work in Kathmandu

Now Miranda is back in Nepal and working with our translator in Kathmandu. The story is taking shape and we are in the process of planning our next shoot in Jumla early in 2013.

In addition, we are in the final preparations of our next fundraising push. Following the success of our screening event in Los Angeles, we feel excited and confident that support for this project continues to grow. When we launch, we are asking all our friends and supporters to help by spreading the word to their networks and anyone they feel would be interested in our film.

This project has come so far from the initial vision. This film is being made by the investment of faith and pennies from our friends and supporters around the world. We are privileged to be on this journey, but the film is being made possible by everyone who believes this story is worth telling.

Thank you.

Screening in Los Angeles

The project has taken a whole new lease of life following the wonderful screening event we held in September at the Dick Clark Screening Room in Santa Monica, California. It was the perfect space to hold the event, thanks to my dear friend, the deeply entertaining David Garonzik, who manages the space. I would certainly recommend it to anyone in Los Angeles wanting to have a screening. And they have a popcorn machine too!

The evening was an opportunity for us to share our progress with our supporters and friends. This is a long journey and it was great to be able to show people what we have been doing so far, giving them an idea of what the project is really about and a small taste of what Jumla is like.

We were extremely grateful to the generosity of some businesses in the Nepali community in California for giving us a taste of Nepal - in food, beer and decor. Tara's Himalayan Cuisine, authentic Nepali food in Culver City, provided delicious snacks that mostly disappeared in the first hour (I hope people will follow up and frequent her place as a result). We managed to get beer from Nepal donated from the only distributor in the country, Nepali Brew Supply, such a classic example of Nepali generosity - they didn't even know me but once I had told them about our project they were more than happy to support. We also had the privilege of showcasing some extremely nice wine from our friends at Fotinos Brothers Winery.  And finally, Reena from the Kathmandu Boutique in Santa Monica came and decorated the space with wares from her shop, giving us a great atmosphere.

For the night we had cut a short progress trailer showcasing some of the footage we've shot and giving a little explanation and back-story about the project and some of the girls featured in the film.

Over the course of the night, people came, enjoyed some food and drinks and then settled in to the comfy armchairs of the screening room to view our piece. I have to say, it went even better than I could have hoped. We had a great turnout and even more rewarding was the response of all who attended. It really made us appreciate that the work we are doing is not only of interest to people but actually had an impact on them. People were genuinely moved and everyone wanted to see more. Which is exactly what we wanted to hear!

Thanks to the wonderful Jenny Lens who came and took pictures - which I will post soon.

Process... Progress

After the shoot in March, I spent another month living in Jumla, reviewing the footage, translating with Soraj and generally soaking up life there by living there and forming a daily routine. I didn't want to leave when my month was over but I had to get back to Kathmandu for my final weeks in Nepal.

Back in Kathmandu, I continued to review the footage and work with Soraj, Nisha and my translators. It is a slow process, reviewing a film in a foreign language, logging and transcribing it all. It gives me a chance to really absorb the footage and having a written record of what was said has proved invaluable already. The other interesting thing has been the reaction of the girls who have worked with me translating.

Soraj and Nisha speak enough English to work with us. Soraj's English is good enough to review footage so I can do rough transcriptions. But it is not quite strong enough for subtitling. The girls that I have been working with are students from Kathmandu who have very strong English.  The transcription process has been fascinating for them and I have delighted in seeing their reaction to, not only the beauty of the place, but also the difference in lifestyle. For these city girls, Jumli living is almost as much of a contrast as it is coming from the west.


I left Nepal in May and am now in California, working with Sophie on the footage in preparation for a screening event we are holding in September before my return to Nepal in October.

We have a lot of footage and the film is shaping up nicely, so we thought it would be nice to share some of our progress with our supporters. We are holding an event in a screening room in Los Angeles, screening a short that we are putting together. It will be the first time the footage is shown on a big screen, so we are very excited!

Photographs by Soraj Shahi

Production pictures taken by our wonderful production manager, Soraj Shahi. Aside from being our indispensable fixer, Soraj takes beautiful photos so I thought I would share some of them. These were all taken during this second shooting period in March.