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Born Into BrothelsBorn Into Brothels

By New Generations

On 06, Nov 2009 | In | By New Generations

Born Into Brothels

A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes.

Born into Brothels, by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski, is the winner of the Oscar 2005 for Best Documentary. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, gives each of the children a camera and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes.

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.

• Directors, script: Ross Kauffman, Zana Briski • USA 2004 • 85 min. • German • Cast: Kochi, Avijit Halder, Shanti Das |

By courtesy of Neuzeitfilm and NDR Studio Hamburg

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