Former UEA lecturer hosts Norwich screening of human trafficking documentary

Kate McLarnon is returning to Norwich for a special Q&A screening of Even When I Fall, which tells the story of circus performers to give a unique perspective into the complex world of human trafficking.

Former UEA lecturer Kate McLarnon is returning to Norwich for a special Q&A screening of Even When I Fall, which tells the story of circus performers to give a unique perspective into the complex world of human trafficking.

Even When I Fall, which she co-directed with Sky Neal, centres on Sheetal and Saraswoti who met as teenagers in a Kathmandu refuge, survivors of child trafficking to corrupt Indian circuses and brought back across the border to Nepal.

The film traces their journey over six years as they confront the families that sold them, seek acceptance within their own country and begin to build a future.

They struggle against the odds and without education, but inadvertently these girls were left with a secret weapon by their captors - their breathtaking skills as circus artists.

With 11 other young trafficking survivors, Sheetal and Saraswoti form Circus Kathmandu – Nepal's first and only circus.

As they take the bold step of bringing an unrecognised art form to the stages of Nepal, they simultaneously challenge the deep-seated stigma against trafficked women. They discover the courage to perform in front of growing crowds.

The film travels with them as they piece together broken memories in the rich beauty of the Kathmandu Valley, through the dusty poverty-stricken border towns of the Terai plains and finally to the bright lights of the famous Big Top at England's Glastonbury Festival.

Along the way they use the crowd's rapt attention to spread a message – to educate against modern slavery.

• The Q&A screening takes place at Norwich Cinema City on March 21 at 6.15pm.