An Indian film director came all the way to Brant County to join the community for a special screening of the film inspired by the boy who moved Christmas.
Uma, a movie about a young girl living in Switzerland who is fighting for her life with a terminal disease, has become a Bollywood blockbuster.
The film’s director, Srijit Mukherji, was in St. George for the screening in Sunny Hill Park on Thursday evening.
Mukherji says visiting the village where everything began and meeting the residents in Evan’s home town was an emotional experience.
“It’s almost paying homage to the original source of inspiration and … to have it in front of people who inspired this movie is incredible,” he says.
While some cultural changes were made to the story, Mukherji says the main message is timeless and universal.
“The essence remains that selflessness, altruism; these are virtues which actually make a human being human,” he says.
At the screening, donations were accepted for the Stedman community hospice and Evan’s legacy.
In Oct. 2015, the town rallied to throw a parade for Evan who had an inoperable brain tumour and had asked his mother for one last Christmas.
Evan died on Dec. 6, 2015.
