The Firefly: Junkiri

Singapore / Nepal / to be released in 2010 / Lynn Lee / 90 & 47 mins

Breaking new ground, Junkiri manages to enter and shoot extensively inside Nepal’s prisons. Nepal’s squalid prisons don’t just house criminals, they’re also home to an undocumented number of children. This film tells the story of two young former inmates. Our cameras follow 14-year-old Krishna and 11-year-old Srijana, as they attempt to make sense of their unusual lives. The two are best friends who met inside Kathmandu’s Central Jail. They ended up there not because they broke the law, but because their mothers did and the children had nowhere to go.
Through Krishna and Srijana, we enter a world few
have ever seen. We witness firsthand, life behind
bars. We meet the children’s mothers and other inmates
and find out their stories. And we get to know Indira
Rana Magar, an activist who has made it her mission
rescuing children living in prison, and trying to improve
conditions for inmates.