New York, NY: Generation Hope,a documentary movie about the life-changing work of Mary’s Meals, is set to be shown at the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival in May. Filmed on location at Mary’s Meals projects in Malawi, Haiti and India, the movie highlights the difference a nutritious daily meal in school can make for children living in the world’s most impoverished communities.
Mary’s Meals was born in 2002 when Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, a Catholic from Scotland, visited Malawi and witnessed the plight of youngsters there who did not have enough to eat.
Supported by people from many walks of life and different backgrounds,the charitable program now feeds more than one million poor children in 12 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, every day they attend school.
In India, the charity works in Bihar, Orissa, Kolkata, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Delhi. They work in both formal and non-formal education centres – such as railway platforms – providing a daily meal to children who are disadvantaged by caste, disability, gender, or HIV status. In collaboration with a partner, BREAD, they feed 19,148 Indian children, according to the charity’s website.
The uplifting half-hour documentary will be exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival’s ‘Short Film Corner’, a prestigious platform for the work of up-and-coming short film directors and producers from around the world.
Hollywood star Gerard Butler, who has supported Mary’s Meals for several years and has visited one of its sites in Liberia, features in the movie directed by Charles Kinnane.
“It’s an incredible gift to bring our work to new eyes, new ears and new hearts in this way,” said Mary’s Meals founder and CEOMacFarlane-Barrow on the movie beingselected to be shown at Cannes.
He added, “At this point in our growth, we see that a beautiful revolution is taking place as a new generation, once fed by Mary’s Meals, begins to find its voice. We call them ‘Generation Hope’.
This is what this film is about – the university students, singers, farmers, teachers, DJs, footballers, and a myriad of other happy young people who, well-nourished and well-educated, are now finding their own way in life.” Ahead of the Cannes Film Festival, Generation Hope received its official launch on April15, with premiere events taking place across six continents.