​We are preparing for the premiere of A Kathmandu Christmas on December 28th at 6:00 PM EST. We will be streaming the film everywhere and look forward to having Amit Nepali and friends from the film available for Q&A direct from Kathmandu!

One of the film’s highlights is when the children to go to "Sunday School" even though Nepal’s Christians mostly attend services on Saturday, their one day off. The Nepali family whom we meet in our first mini-documentary “Piles of Bricks-Patan/Lalitpur” are now in their church: Golgotha Church in Kathmandu where Rev. Shyam Nepali is rector.  Amit Nepali and the band start the service as he does most, leading the gathering congregation in a half-hour of praise music before things get started in earnest. There’s lots of music throughout – some familiar and some not.  You’ve never heard “How Great Thou Art” like this! For more go to Sunday School on Saturday.

You can tune-in and even co-host A Kathmandu Christmas for your organization. Click here for tickets in person at St. Luke’s in Miami or to stream it online.

Come see and share A Kathmandu Christmas with us on Saturday, December 28th!

​For more information contact us.

By Steve Richards

My first trip to Nepal in January, 1998 is memorable to my family, friends, and co-workers as a time most thought I was kidnapped. I wasn't, just on a trek with a couple Austrian Buddhist I met up with on the train from Delhi to the Nepal/Indian border crossing, and who were on their way to Pokhara to see the sun rise on the Himalayas from Poon Hill - 10,000 feet up in the foothills of the Annapurna range.

Getting their was a three day hike up mountain trails in use for thousands of years along side the raging Dhaulagiri fed by glaciers high up in the world's highest mountains - which were right there: Dhaulagiri and Annapurna.

Even though I was much younger, my pack was too large, and my exercise regimen too weak, to make walking in these parts anything but a challenging (read painful) experience. And the most life-changing experience I ever encountered. I suppose it's like that for most from our neck-of-the-woods.

So, I had lost track of time though I knew I had told everyone not to expect me for a month as I was on vacation and was heading to India for my roommate's wedding. I was to be in the wedding even. Unfortunately, I never actually received an invitation and I figured someone would be waiting for me at the airport. I was wrong and after a day or two of trying to locate my hosts decided I'd head to Kathmandu and see what Bob Seeger had neem singing about. Suffice it to say that when I didn't show at the wedding all got very concerned and my mom was getting a call in the middle of the night that her some had gone missing.

So all were quite relieved when I finally found a phone and called home from Ghorepani, the village at the base of Poon Hill, and where we are heading on our latest trek. I'm pretty sure my cell phone will do a better job of keeping us plugged in than the landline we depended on back then.

​So Why Co-Host this World Premiere Screening on the 28th?

We are looking forward to a delightful holiday event featuring our brothers and sisters in Kathmandu to help fund our Nepal 2020 projects - and provide a fundraising opportunity for our co-hosts.

The Basics

• The event begins at 6:00 PM on Saturday, December 28th and ends at 7:30. The film has an actual runtime of 45 minutes. We plan to start the film at 6:30 PM which gives us a half-hour to enjoy the fellowship and whatever each co-host has planned before the film.
• $10 per person is the recommended donation shared equally between the co-host and TheoEco with our share going towards Nepal 2020. Co-hosts keep their share as a fundraiser.
• Online Flipcause links for ticket sales will be set up for each co-host to collect donations online. Cash sales collected by co-hosts are on the honor system. We’ll settle the accounts after the event.
• The co-host provides the screening apparatus to show the film as best they can.

It’s Easy!

Feeling adventurous? Got some time in January when the weather in Kathmandu features highs in the 70’s and not a cloud in the sky? Then consider meeting TheoEco in Kathmandu on our New Year Trek in support of Nepal Project 2020!

Beginning January 14, 2020 TheoEco’s Steve and Bobbie Richards are heading back for the five-year anniversary of the 2015 mega-quakes. Trek with us to Kathmandu, the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara, the Himalayas, and more.

​We will be working closely with the Christians in Nepal and the National Theological College and can provide opportunities for volunteers to offer their much-needed skills and experience. To see some of those we will meet and work with while there see our 4 minute condensed version of The Flourishing Kathmandu Church at:  https://vimeo.com/299315179. ​

​TheoEco’s Steve Richards and daughter Bobbie went to Kathmandu in the fall of 2015 to assist with the earthquake relief efforts and document/video those efforts.  We are going back on January 14, 2020 (5th expedition) to revisit the places and people we met in 2015 and see how things are developing with the earthquake recovery - five years later.

Homes, monuments, temples and the like are still being rebuilt by homeowners and independent organizations like the Kathmandu Preservation Trust out of New York City. Our director Amit Nepali’s family rebuilt a temporary version of their home with no insurance and virtually no government assistance.  Not sure the building code is exactly up to spec but when you have 12 family members close to living in the streets during monsoons, you obviously get moving. This is the story we hear everywhere – people doing for themselves as we illustrate in our films: Piles of Bricks, The Flourishing Kathmandu Church, and our Nepal mini-docs.

For more see the VILLAGES mini-doc from our first visit in 2015 for a firsthand look at the conditions in the villages of Gorkha, Lele and others.

​So FLo FLoods and the Bahamian Relief Screenings taking place throughout South Florida have many Anglican connections as mentioned in our last blog: About the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion, and the Bahamas. Since then we’ve had Bahamians who have asked if they could show the film to their family in the Bahamas. We've said, "Yes, of course!" and provided a link to the film, which we are very happy to do for any that want to see it in the Bahamas.

By Steve Richards

​Most documentaries – most films for that matter – have a difficult time seeing the light of day. Few crack the awareness of most audiences. Even big budget films with large scale theatrical releases and marketing budgets have a difficult time cracking the awareness of most people.
​
Little documentaries like So FLo FLoods have an exceedingly difficult time getting anywhere. Most try the film festival route and hope they have enough to catch the eye of a distributor, who if they decide to distribute a film basically control the film from that point onward.