Lewes Film Club Indian Mini-Season- Born Into Brothels

When film-maker Zana Briski travelled to Calcutta to photograph prostitutes in the red-light district of Sanagachi she ended up handing over the cameras to the children and teaching them to record their own and their parents' lives instead. It was a solution that both overrode the practical difficulties of gaining access to her subjects, and the sensitivities of presenting the world ‘through Western eyes’. And it came with a viable business plan. Briski saw that she could use the sales money raised from an exhibition of their pictures to buy their way out of the brothels and into boarding schools. The resulting film of this venture, ‘Born Into Brothels’, gained an Oscar for best documentary and received almost unanimous praise. Briski’s efforts were held up as well-meaning and inspiring, having produced real changes in the lives of the children. By the end of her time in Calcutta, Briski had successfully gained school places for several of the children and had even battled the endless red tape to secure a passport for one talented individual so he could exhibit in Amsterdam.
But whilst Briski and co-director Ross Kaufman basked in the after-glow of their Oscar-winning success, some rumblings of dissatisfaction were being heard from the Calcutta community. Partha Banerjee, an interpreter who had worked on the film publicly voiced objections at the film’s emphasis on the influence of one (Western) woman and its denial of successful community efforts to clean up the Red Light District themselves. Worthy or paternalistic? Decide tonight at the All Saints. ER