A STOURBRIDGE filmmaker who spent three weeks recording a documentary about youth poverty in Nepal has spoken of his experiences of life in the third world.

Aidan Joseph, a former Elmfield Steiner School and King Edward VI College student, wanted to “better the world” by shining light on the issue of children living rough on the streets.

During the filming of ‘Limits of Freedom: The Street Children of Kathmandu’, Aidan, who is currently studying film and media production in Sheffield, saw the many dangers facing homeless children in the capital, including youngsters addicted to sniffing very harmful industrial glue out of plastic bags.

“My intention is to show to the masses that some of the intended support that individuals may give to these children may actually be inhibiting their recovery and escape from their situation,” Aidan said.

“For example, many tourists that visit the country will give money to the street children that beg to them, however this money is very often spent on harmful substances that the children use as an escapism from the hunger, cold and all round difficulty of living rough on the streets of Kathmandu.

“We wish to educate on the ways in which these children can be helped in a more diverse way, and to create a discussion around the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the current efforts to remedy the situation.

“It's an incredibly complex issue that we weren't fully aware of the intricacies before shooting there and it has opened our eyes quite a lot.”

Aidan, who was joined on the trip by documentary director Joe Gist, said the filmmaking process, which had the pair make intimate contact with a ‘gang’ of street children, was “incredibly rewarding”, both creatively and emotionally.

He said: “These boys begged in a very touristy area of Kathmandu as this is where they were most likely to profit from begging.

“Some of the children were very young to be fending for themselves on the harsh streets of a capital city and we saw a lot of substance abuse among these children that was quite difficult to be exposed to.

“These children really are in a difficult situation where they have the ability to access these substances that are permanently damaging their bodies and minds, it was incredibly sad really.

“We really want to help inspire change in the treatment of these children to help better prevent from having a society where children can be living in this way.

“We also visited several charities and investigated into the ways in which they are providing their own approach to rehabilitating and caring for these children that are used to such a feral, free living existence of doing as they please on the streets.

“Some of the ways in which they used creativity and vocational training to better cater for these children that may not thrive in an academic environment was refreshing to see.

“A large number of children on the streets were there by their own choosing, as it seemed favourable to the alternative in their eyes – be it because they had ran away from home, from shelters, or didn't enjoy the schooling environment; it’s very important that these children are individually catered for in a way which inspires them to stay on the right track and not jeopardise their future.

“But the country itself is an incredibly humbling place to visit. The people are so friendly and helpful, the vibrancy and business of the city was unlike anything on this side of the world and the simple fact that we never felt in danger despite being in several high intensity situations during filming made it an incredibly pleasant place to reside for those three weeks.

“We have every intention of revisiting the country to film there more in the future and it is one of our end goals upon the release and distribution of this film.”

To pay for the trip, Aidan and Joe set up a Go Fund Me page, managing to raise £1,400 to cover the majority of their primary expenses.

Aidan said: “It was such an enormous help and we’re immensely grateful to all of the very generous individuals that have supported us along the way.

“The funds steadily came in over December and January, throughout the duration of the trip where we uploaded daily updates on the progress of the production which seemed to greatly help in getting additional donations during the shoot.

“The rest of the funds we subsidised ourselves which we were happy to do.”

Currently in the editing phases, Aidan hopes to have the film ready for public screenings by the beginning of May.

He added: “We’ve transcribed all of the content and organised all of the footage into a format that will allow us to begin carving out the story as we see fit.

“We’re currently juggling with the various themes and trying to decipher which will be the strongest and most appropriate ones to intertwine throughout the piece.

“We expect to be doing some public screenings of the film beginning in May, starting at the Sheffield Showroom Cinema, and at the Sheffield Hallam Student's Union.

“Beyond that we will be aiming to submit a version of the film to various film festivals across the UK to hopefully gain some further recognition as filmmakers and show that we are capable of producing further content in Kathmandu with the contacts and access that we have managed to build up.

“We haven’t got a confirmed online release as of yet, but we will however be posting regular updates on the progress of the production, and where and when the film will be shown for anyone who wishes to watch it.”

For more information about the project visit www.facebook.com/limitsoffreedom