built on hope
In January 2025, three Bethel University students and their partners spent a few weeks in a brick factory in Haryana, India. They wanted to show the economics and desperation of migrant families who live where they work. What they found was three mothers who made or moved bricks all day and ran their homes all night with little help from their husbands. Manisha traveled from Rajasthan for this work. Paramjeet from Punjab. And Kushbu from Bihar. Her 9-year-old daughter, Nazia, takes care of the house and her five siblings all day. Her future will look like her mother’s unless the economics and political systems change. Her future is built on her mother’s hope.
the trailer
Here is the rough cut of the trailer from director Kathryn Kovalenko.
the doc team
Please meet our film crew and volunteers:
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Kat is a senior media production and journalism major at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She’s from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
She’s passionate about storytelling through writing, photo and video. She wants to share stories that make a difference in her community and lift up marginalized voices.
She likes making hyper-specific Spotify playlists, treasure hunting at Goodwill and spending all her money on concert tickets.
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Luca Lombardi is a senior business marketing major with minors in photojournalism and Spanish at Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
He likes eating homemade Argentine food, going for walks throughout Saint Paul and taking photos of things that occur in his everyday life.
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Devanie Andre is a designer, photographer and videographer based out of the Twin Cities in Minnesota who just graduated from Bethel University.
She is Sicangu Lakota descent and grew up on the Rosebud reservation and other areas in South Dakota. Her cultural identity inspires her desire to serve a variety of voices through design and storytelling.
She believes an important part of design and storytelling is forming relationships, bringing joy to others, and being a part of something greater than oneself.
