NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Born into Brothels

Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids is a 2004 American documentary film about the children of prostitutes in Sonagachi, Calcutta's red light district. The widely acclaimed film, written and directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, won a string of accolades including the Oscar for best documentary feature in the year 2005. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (449x667, 82 KB)Born Into Brothels film poster File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Zana Briski is the founder of non-profit organization, Kids with Cameras[1]. Her documentary film, Born into Brothels, is the winner of the 77th annual Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature[2]. After earning a masters degree at the University of Cambridge, Zana studied documentary photography at International... Bangla (à¦¬à¦¾à¦‚à¦²à¦¾, IPA: ) or Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language of East South Asia, evolved from Sanskrit and Prakrit. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A scene in Sonagachi, 2005 Sonagachi, translated as Golden Tree, is the largest red-light district in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. ... This article is on Calcutta/Kolkata, the city. ... A red-light district is a neighborhood where prostitution is a common part of everyday life. ... Zana Briski is the founder of non-profit organization, Kids with Cameras[1]. Her documentary film, Born into Brothels, is the winner of the 77th annual Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature[2]. After earning a masters degree at the University of Cambridge, Zana studied documentary photography at International... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent film awards in the United States and most watched awards ceremony in the world. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Making

Briski, a documentary photographer went to Kolkata (Calcutta) to photograph prostitutes. While there, she befriended their children, and offered to teach the children photography to reciprocate for being allowed to photograph their mothers. The children were given cameras so they could learn photography and possibly improve their lives. Much of their work was used in the film, and the filmmakers recorded the classes as well as daily life in the red light district. Documentary photography usually refers to a type of professional photojournalism, but it may also be an amateur or student pursuit. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A red-light district is a neighborhood where prostitution is a common part of everyday life. ...

Impact

The film-makers claim that the lives of children appearing in Born into Brothels have been transformed through money earned through sale of photos and a book on them. Ross Kauffman, co-director of the documentary, said the $100,000 (about Rs.4.5 million) made through the sale of their photos and an accompanying book has gone into setting them up for their future. Profits from the film are paying for the students' tuition and are going to building a school in India for children of prostitutes. Briski has started a non-profit organization to continue this kind of work in other countries, Kids with Cameras ^[1]. NGO is an abbreviation or code for: Non-governmental organization Nagoya Airport (IATA code) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Partha Banerjee, who worked on the film as an interpreter, refuted the claim that the children's lives had been improved, saying in a letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that many of them ended up in worse circumstances than they had been in before their involvement in photography classes.^[2] Critics have emphasised that the life and family circumstances of these children were far too complex to be revolutionised by educating one family member in photography, or even sending them to boarding school. The documentary itself acknowledges that many of those 'saved' from the red light district and put into boarding school had left the school and returned to their families before long. The reality is that children hopes are hyped beyond meassure. The portrayal in the film of any other support by the indian society is misrepresented (nuns) or completely ignored. It has been suggested that Interpreter (communication) be merged into this article or section. ... Founded on May 11, 1927 in California, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures. ...

Notes

Awards

The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is one of the most prestigious awards for documentary films. ... The Cleveland International Film Festival, first held in 1977, is the largest film festival in Ohio. ... The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is one of the United States premier documentary film festivals held over the course of four days each spring at the Carolina Theater in Durham, North Carolina. ... The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival in the United States, and ranks amongst the top five events of its type in the world. ...

Nominations

Directors Guild of America (DGA) is the labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry. ... The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) was founded in 1975. ... The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival in the United States, and ranks amongst the top five events of its type in the world. ...

External links

Categories: 2004 films | American documentary films | Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners | 2004 Sundance Film Festival | Sundance Film Festival award winners The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about actors, films, television shows, video games and production crew personnel. ... The Indian Express is an Indian newspaper started by Ram Nath Goenka, and is published from New Delhi. ... Roger Ebert (right) with Russ Meyer, 1970 Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is an Emmy Award-nominated American television personality, author, and film critic who began writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, every week since 1967. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The Immoral Traffic Persons (Prevention) Act or PITA is a bit of legislation passed in India in 1956 as a result of the India signing the United Nations declaration in 1950 in New York on the suppression of trafficking. ... Indian Penal Code (IPC) provides a penal code for all of India excluding Jammu and Kashmir. ... The Chukri System, is a type of forced labour whereby a female is coereced into prostitution to pay off debts. ... The Aadhiya System, is a system , most prevalent in India, where a sex worker is rented a room or apartment by a mashi or brothel keeper (usually on older retired sex worker) and who charges the woman rent for the room based upon her totlal earnings rather than at a... Shivdaspur is a red light village in Varanasi in eastern Uttar Pradesh in India. ... Kamathipura (also spelled Kamthipura) is Mumbais oldest and Asias largest red-light district. ... A scene in Sonagachi, 2005 Sonagachi, translated as Golden Tree, is the largest red-light district in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. ... Sanlaap is an Indian feminist NGO, established in 1987. ... The West Bengal Womens Union was started in the 1932, when a group of women in West Bengal formed a cadre of like-minded women to help their helpless, exploited and victimized fellow women. ... Guilty Without Trial Guilty Without Trial: Women in the Sex trade in Calcutta, by Carolyn Sleightholme and Indrani Sinha (published in 1996 by Rutgers University Press, ISBN 0-8135-2381-8) is a look into the lives of sex workers in Calcutta. ... India has had a sharp increase in the estimated number of HIV infections, from thre first reported case in 1986, then escalating to several thousand in the early 1990s to around five million in 2003. ... Tulasas Father Tulasa Thapa was a 12-year old Nepali girl who was kidnapped from her home village of Thankot near Kathmandu in 1982, smuggled into Mumbai via the border town of Birganj in Parsa District, and sold into prostitution. ...

Contents