Born Into Brothels
Release Date:
December 8, 2004
Limited release
Movie of the Day for Tuesday, October 19, 2004
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On the Big Board |
Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
20/133 |
Dan Krovich |
Informative and touching |
Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski are documentary filmmakers who spent time in Sonagachi, Calcutta. While there, they developed a singular relationship with the children of the prostitutes who work in the city's infamous red-light district.
In 1997, Briski set out to examine the lives of sex workers in the Sonagachi, the red-light district in Calcutta, India. Over 7,000 women - and unfortunately, girls - are prostitutes. Briski lived in the area for months at a time, and while there, something extraordinary happened. The children of the women who worked in Sonagachi became her friends. The kids became interested in photography, and Briski taught them how to photograph their world with 35 mm cameras.
In the end, it was Briski's hope that empowering the children to have an artistic talent and a means of expressing the way they view their world would assist them in breaking out from the unfortunate situations where they found themselves. (Kim Hollis/BOP)