Title of Proposal:
Little Gods of Mercy
Theme:
Human Rights

Synopsis:

When you’re dying of an incurable disease there seems to be little hope of anything. If you’re a child in one of Bangkok’s most notorious slums, Klong Toey, and you’re dying of HIV/AIDS, there is literally no hope. Except that is if you paint like Picasso and have people on the other side of the world prepared to promote and support your work.

A Tai Chi Group in Hervey Bay, Australia decide to support and help a group of kids from Klong Toey slum in Bangkok who are suffering from HIV/AIDS. The children are very talented artists whose paintings represent their thoughts and vision of the world. Bold and colourful and full of joy and happiness, these paintings are a striking antithesis to the world that they have actually come from.

The paintings have been invited to Hervey Bay as part of a Queensland Museum Exhibition entitled 'Kids Time' which will show how children’s perspectives have evolved through the years. The Mercy Centre’s Exhibition will be called 'Through The Eyes of Children'.

We will follow the preparation of the paintings in Bangkok and Father Joe and one of his staff who will travel to Hervey Bay with the paintings. We will see the impact that these paintings and their stories have on people in Australia. We will see how art will inspire and move people emotionally. We will delight when we see the kid’s faces back in Bangkok when they see and hear the stories, photos and images of the documentary. The true sign of success will be their smiling faces and the excitement and joy of selling their paintings half way around the world. This is a feel good story…how people from the other side of the world (Australia) decide to do something good and worthwhile for others and sometimes how that small act of generosity grows and evolves into something bigger than anyone had imagined.

Producers: James Lingwood, Mark Norfolk
Director/Writer: James Lingwood
Editor: Mark Norfolk
Estimated Length: 60 minutes
Present stage of production: In development.