Born Into Brothels

Winner of the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, this extraordinary film is a tribute to the resiliency of children and the restorative power of art.
The most stigmatized people in Calcutta's red light district are not the prostitutes, but their children. In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother's fate or for creating another type of life. In Born Into Brothels, Zana Briski, a New-York photographer, gives cameras to several of these unforgettable kids and teaches them to look at the world through new eyes.The amazing transformation of the children is remarkable; their resulting photographs are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force, and a true testimony of the power of the indelible creative spirit.