British filmmaker Philippa Frisby’s documentary on Father Joseph Pereira’s yoga center fighting drug addiction won the Special Jury Mention Award at the 2018 Jaipur International Film Festival.
Fr Joseph Pereira, a Catholic priest from India began the Kripa Center two decades ago to rehabilitate street children who were addicted to drugs.
The film, The Circle, on Kripa Dharavi Center in Mumbai is a story that has to be told,” said Frisby, who is also a certified Iyengar yoga teacher.
The 65-minute narrates the life of four street children. It features how they fall into addiction and survive by selling refuse, using drugs to block out their inner pain.
The film shows the children going to school, forming friendships with other boys in the Center, and beginning the process of rebuilding their self-esteem and hope for the future.
“I had used up almost all my savings for this film and when we won, I was overwhelmed. But for me, it was more important to share this inspirational story with the world,” Frisby told the Times of India.
Mumbai’s Dharavi neighborhood is the second largest slum in Asia, and home to over 700,000 people. This is where Fr Pereira began the Kripa Center two decades ago to rehabilitate those street children who were addicted to drugs.
The priest said many young students from foreign universities also visit the center and share with the children various useful skills.
Now more people will find out about this in The Circle, and Frisby said it was a unique experience. “It has been an amazing journey. It has been a life enhancer and life-changer,” the Mumbai: