Male’, Maldives, 14th June 2023 – May 22, 2023. Soneva Jani, the iconic over-water resort in the Maldives’ Noonu Atoll,celebrated the Asia premiere of Children of Shanghai with a private screening at Cinema Paradiso on May 17, 2023. The hour-long documentary, narrated by British adventurer Bear Grylls, tells the tales of the first fostered children in China whose lives were dramatically changed thanks to the Care for Children charity.The event was hosted by Chinese singer-songwriter G.E.M., a passionate patron who also donated all the profit of merchandise from her latest album Revelation to the charity.
The documentary spotlights the story of former professional footballer Robert Glover, who, together with his wife Elizabeth and their six young children, moved from the UK to China in 1998 and founded the charity Care for Children – the first to introduce fostering programmes in the country. The film follows five children who overcame many challenges to achieve success as young professionals. Care for Children has since placed around a million orphans with families.
The premiere took place in the intimate setting of Soneva Jani’s outdoor movie theatre, with all ticket proceeds from the evening donated to Care for Children. After a private screening of Children of Shanghai, a question and answer session took place with open dialogue around human compassion and the importance of coming together.
As benefactors of Care for Children, Soneva founders Sonu Shivdasani and Eva Malmström strongly believe that a single leap of faith can change the world, having achieved their shared vision of a sustainable luxury resort in a pristine location with the opening of Soneva Fushi in 1995. Committed to supporting initiatives that have a positive impact, Soneva adds a 2% environmental levy to room rates across all its resorts in the Maldives and Thailand to help offset carbon emissions and fund admirable projects by the not-for-profit Soneva Foundation. These include providing fuel-efficient stoves to vulnerable communities in Myanmar and Darfur, funding cleanwater projects around the world, creating one of the biggest coral nurseries to accelerate restoration and aid marine life, and many more.
