BORN INTO BROTHELS: CALCUTTA'S RED LIGHT KIDS {IN BENGALI WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES} (TV)
Summary
This documentary is about a group of children living in Calcutta's red-light district who are given cameras and taught how to use them by British photographer Zana Briski. Briski, known as "Zana Auntie" to the children, narrates the film, which features the work of the young photographers and captures their everyday lives in the squalid, cramped Sonogachi district. The documentary includes footage of the children's photography classes with Briski, including their field trips to the zoo and the seashore. It also tracks Briski's efforts to improve the children's lives by enrolling them in boarding schools, a process that is complicated by the general reluctance of institutions to take the children of prostitutes, huge government bureaucracies, and the resistance of the children's guardians. The documentary does, however, capture some brighter moments, including the public attention garnered by the exhibition of the children's photos in New York and at Calcutta's own Oxford Bookstore, and one student's trip to Amsterdam to represent the group among young photographers from around the world.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Marc Haas and Helen Hotze Haas Foundations, 2003/2004.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO/Cinemax
- DATE: August 16, 2005 7:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:23:10
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:81060
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: India - Children - Social conditions; Photography; Prostitution; She Made It Collection (Sheila Nevins)
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 2005
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Geralyn White Dreyfous … Executive Producer
- Pamela Tanner Boll … Co-Executive Producer
- Ellen Peck … Associate Producer
- Ross Kauffman … Producer, Director, Production (Misc.), Editor and cinematographer
- Zana Briski … Producer, Director, Production (Misc.), Cinematographer
- Nancy Baker … Production (Misc.), Editor
- John McDowell … Music by
- Zana Briski … Narrator