Born into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids (USA) | Click here to watch
(85 min; 2004; Bengali/English with English subtitles)
Directors: Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman
Multiple award winner including Oscar Award for Best Documentary, Features, Academy Awards 2005; Audience Choice Award, Bermuda International Film Festival 2004; Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival 2004; Best Film Award, Cleveland International Film Festival 2004; among others
"Without help they're doomed," says co-director Zana Briski of the kids she encounters in Calcutta's wretched Sonagachi district, and Born Into Brothels movingly charts how it is possible to make a difference to lives that appear devoid of any hope. Shot on digital video over a period of several years, this unsentimentally compassionate film focusses on a group of neglected and impoverished youngsters, who display unexpected photographic abilities.