As this movie began to unfold, I was fearful. Homeless kids scavenging for change and food on the grounds of a Hindu temple on the banks of the Baghmati River in Nepal — this isn’t going to suddenly get happy.

And it doesn’t, but the filmmakers’ light touch with the subject matter allows for glimpses of the joys in these children’s lives as well as their suffering. Bits of upbeat humanity are strewn throughout the film, so that the viewer isn’t left with the sense that all is hopeless, just that something needs to be done. There are moments of laughter, and outrage, and desperation, and hope.