''Punam'' is a 2006 documentary film about nine-year-old girl Punam

Tamang The Tamang (; Devanagari: तामाङ; ''tāmāṅ'') are an Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group of Nepal. In Nepal Tamang/Moormi people constitute 5.6% of the Nepalese population at over 1.3 million in 2001, increasing to 1,539,830 as of the 2011 c ...

from

Bhaktapur , motto = ne, पुर्खले सिर्जेको सम्पत्ती, हाम्रो कला र संस्कृति , lit=Creation of our ancestors, our heritage and culture , image_map ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

. It was directed by Natasa Urban and Lucian Muntean (aka Lunam Docs), a Serbian independent documentary production duo specializing in telling the stories of working children.

Synopsis

The child's voice of nine–year–old Punam

transports us to the

city of

. There we are presented with a stark description of the hard life of this young girl and the dismal social conditions in which she lives. Punam's mother died when she was only five. She was left with her father, her newborn sister Rabina and her two–year–old brother Krishna. The

children see little of their father because he works from sunrise to sundown in a rice factory, in order to earn enough money for their school fees (US$1.50 per month/student), and so during the daytime Punam assumes the roles of head of the family, caregiver and homemaker. The film also takes us into the world of Punam's friends whose families do not make enough money to afford the school fee. Instead of studying, these children have to work in a

stone quarry In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's o ...

or brick–making factory to help their families get by. The film captures the hard work the children are required to perform and also takes a peek into the poor five–grade school that represents Punam's symbol of hope. She believes that

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

ushers in progress and is the only opportunity for improving their situation – perhaps bringing about new job opportunities in better conditions. We look at the situation through the eyes of this young Asian girl, who dreams of becoming a teacher and helping other children in situations like hers.

Activism

The PUNAM FUND, a non-profit organisation, founded by Natasa Urban and Lucian Muntean, was established in September 2007 as a result of the enormous positive feedback regarding the documentary film ''Punam'', which inspired people from all over the world to help the children presented in the film. The PUNAM FUND is dedicated to the elimination of and fight against

child labour Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...

. For the time being, the activities of the PUNAM FUND are aimed at the children featured in the films ''Punam'' and Journey of a Red Fridge. Its main goal is to reduce the number of illiterate working children by providing

scholarships A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarshi ...

for the children who work in

stone quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

, brick kilns and carpet factories in the

region and for child

porters Porters may refer to: * Porters, Virginia, an unincorporated community in Virginia, United States * Porters, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community in Wisconsin, United States * Porters Ski Area, a ski resort in New Zealand * ''Porters'' (TV series ...

working in

Himalayan Mountains The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

Alternate Titles

*''Große Schwester Punam'' (Germany, Austria & Switzerland TV title;

3sat In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) is the problem of determining if there exists an interpretation that satisfie ...

) *''Dotknij życia - Punam'' (

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

TV title; TVP) *''Punam - tyttö ilman lapsuutta'' (

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

TV title;

YLE Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

) *''Punam fra Nepal'' (Denmark TV title; DR)

Exhibition & Awards

''Punam'' premiered at the 2006

One World Film Festival One World (Czech: ''Jeden svět'') is the largest human rights film festival in the world (125,947 spectators in 2018), held annually in Prague and other 36 cities of the Czech Republic, with a selection later shown in Brussels and other countries. ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. Since then, ''Punam'' has been screened at more than 50 international festivals and received 8 awards, one of them the

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

Award for Children Rights. In 2006, ''Punam'' was voted the most popular film among teachers in the

. ''Punam'' was offered, for educational purposes, to more than 250 primary and secondary schools. About 10,000 children had the opportunity to view the documentary film ''Punam'' and debate on

issues. What is more,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

included it into its High School Program in the United States. On 10 December 2006, on the occasion of the

International Human Rights Day Human Rights Day is list of minor secular observances#December, celebrated annually around the world on 10 December every year. The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, ...

, ''Punam'' was screened at the

UN Headquarters The United Nations is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States, and the complex has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1951. It is in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay neig ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. ''Punam'' was released on DVD in March 2009.

Sequel

In March 2009, Natasa Urban and Lucian Muntean ( Lunam Docs) returned to

for the shooting of ''Punam'' sequel. This documentary was produced in association with

The Global Fund for Children Global Fund for Children (GFC) is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to transform the lives of the world's most vulnerable children. GFC pursues this mission by making small grants to innovative community-based organiz ...

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0927739
Lunam DocsAlternative Film Guide Review by Rosemary Westwell
Serbian documentary films 2006 films Nepali-language films 2006 documentary films Films shot in Kathmandu Nepalese documentary films Films shot in Bhaktapur Documentary films about Nepal