LESOTHO IS ravaged by AIDS, yet a bit of laughter and escape was brought into the lives of children there by Irish entertainers.
That story is now the documentary Clown Around Lesotho! which will be shown in the Cinemobile, outside the Town Hall on Friday July 10 at 4pm, as part of the Galway Film Fleadh.
For the last two years Galway actor Jonathan Gunning and Dubliner Bryan Quinn have led an Irish Chapter of Clowns Without Borders - a voluntary aid organisation which visits and performs for communities in areas of crisis including refugee camps, conflict zones, and areas in situations of emergency.
Clown Around Lesotho! is a documentary by filmmaker Mike Casey who travelled with the clowns to Lesotho, one of the smallest countries in Africa. It is one-third the size of Ireland and has a population of two million. Almost 40 per cent live below the international poverty line.
The county is also ravaged by HIV/AIDS with 25 to 40 per cent of the population infected. About 18,000 children are infected with the virus and due to reduced life expectancy there are almost 180,000 orphans.
Clown Around Lesotho! is an intimate portrait of a country and a people who, despite all their problems, love to smile.
Tickets contact 091 569777
