film

Born Into Brothels

User Rating	1 2 3 4 5
Producer(s)	Ross Kauffman, Zana Briski
Director(s)	Ross Kauffman, Zana Briski
Release Date	2004
Runtime	85 min
Format(s)	video
Language(s)	English
Youth Media	no
Educational Materials	Yes

Film Description

The most stigmatized people in Sonagachi, Calcutta's red light district, are not the prostitutes, but their children. In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother's fate or for creating another type of life.

In Born into Brothels, directors Zana Briski and Ross Kaufmann chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in Sonagachi. Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius that reside in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless world. The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force.