The Filmmakers
Director / Producer / Filmmaker
Anna Fischer is a Swedish filmmaker who grew up around the world.
She attended the United Nations International School in New York and Switzerland and received her Masters degree from New York University in Journalism and International Relations. She has worked with UNICEF in Geneva, Switzerland, volunteered with a peace organization in former Yugoslavia at the height of the war, has worked in Pakistan for the World Health Organization (WHO) and in refugee camps on the Pakistani-Afghan border, and has taught hygiene for midwives in Afghanistan during the Taliban rule. She lived in Kathmandu, Nepal for three years and has been living in Varanasi, India since 2003.
In India she shot her first documentary, “Laxmi Burns”, on the subject of dowry burn victims and worked with mothers who have lost their daughters to dowry murders (brides immolated in kerosene by their in-laws for not providing enough dowry money upon their marriage). She also created a public awareness day against the evils of dowry in Varanasi in 2004 (aired on TV), which included public speeches by some of India’s leading feminists.
Editor, Sound Designer, Sound Editor, Sound Mixer and Composer for Lucky Express
Thomas Simon has worked as DP and editor on documentaries, music videos, activist & educational programs, high profile live concerts and events.
He toured internationally with alternative rock bands (Love Alien, MUSICIENS SANS FRONTIÉRES) and has been commissioned to created music for film, tv and theater.
Thomas’ visual and soundtrack works have been selected, so far, to 29 international film festivals, spread over four continents in the last few years, winning six awards.
http://www.endorphinrecords.com/
Cameraman / interviewer / leading character in the documentary.
Lucky Bahadur ran away from an abusive family environment in his homeland of Nepal at the age of five, by hitching a ride with a truck driver headed to India. He was dropped off at the New Delhi train station.
Five years old, alone, and not a word of Hindi, Lucky worked for a “chai wallah” (man who serves tea) on the train platform for many years. He was only given small scraps of food as payment. Later, a gang member took him under his wing and taught him to pickpocket at the train station.
At New Delhi train station, Lucky remarkably survived eight years on “platform 10″ until he finally was persuaded by a social worker to join the non-governmental organization, Salaam Baalak Trust, that provides care for abandoned children. Lucky instantly took the opportunity and left the train station and has lived in one of their boy’s homes ever since.
He returned once to Nepal to try and reunite with his family, but he never found them.
Lucky is now twenty-one years old and his greatest passion in life is to become a filmmaker so that he can show the world the lives of the street children of India.
After shooting the film, Lucky started film classes at The Asian School of Media Studies in Delhi in August 2010.
Associate Producer/Second Cameraman
Steve Good Man, has worked as a Drug and Alcohol Counselor for many years in the North-west and Alaska. Steve worked with indigenous youth, exposing cultural sensitivity issues and nonviolent solutions. Steve acted as one of the main driving forces on this documentary, and was instrumental in establishing a trusting and safe bond with children interviewed in this documentary.
