2004 Program Guide - DOXA Documentary Film Festival

Born Into Brothels
USA/India, 2004, colour, video, English/Bengali
w/English subtitles, 85 mins
Directors: Zana Briski & Ross Kauffman
“I want to show in pictures how people live in this city. I
want to show the behaviour of man.”
- Gour, Born Into Brothels
“Anyone who has ever thought that documentaries lack
the emotional impact, drama or sheer moviegoing pleasure
of fiction films will likely change their mind after
seeing Born Into Brothels.”
- James Greenberg, Sundance Film Festival
Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski collaborate to deliver
an inspiring and visually stunning film that explores
the lives of children born of prostitutes in Calcutta’s
Sonagachi red light district. A photographer by trade,
Briski first came to Calcutta to document the lives of
the prostitutes living the city’s largest red-light district.
Living in Sonagachi, she found herself getting deeply
involved in the lives of the children there and decided to
Friday May 28, 7:30 pm / pc born into brothels
return with cameras to offer them photography classes,
giving some highly gifted young artists the opportunity
to capture their world through the lens for the first
time.
What could have been a routine anthropological
exercise produces countless images of startling beauty
and power, photographs that are not merely impressive
examples of observational talent but reflections
of something much larger, morally encouraging, even
politically volatile: the immensely liberating and empowering
force of creating art.
gloria wong
www.kids-with-cameras.org
Winner “Audience Favourite - Documentary”,
Sundance Film Festival, 2004
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