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Dispute over film's brothel children
By Seema Sirohi
February 28, 2005
Born into Brothels, a film about the children of prostitutes in Calcutta,
India, has won Oscar for best documentary. But it has been criticised for the
way it shows the children and their surroundings.
In the squalor of Sonagachi, Calcutta's red light district, seven children are
taught to document their lives using cameras by British-born photographer Zana
Briski.
Their experiences are captured in Ms Briski's documentary Born into Brothels,
an uplifting portrayal of children battling heavy odds while retaining their
innocence.
The film has already been shown at 30 festivals around the world, winning
several audience awards for Ms Briski and American co-director Ross Kauffman.
The documentary tracks Ms Briski's efforts to get the children - four girls and
three boys - out of their environment.
But as well as receiving high praise, it has provoked claims that it
misrepresented its young stars - and left them worse off than when they
started.
Partha Banerjee, who interpreted for the Bengali-speaking children and
English-speaking film-makers, said there were "ethical and stylistic" problems
with the documentary.
In a letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organises
the Oscars, he said the experience made the children's lives "worse", not
better.
And he questioned whether Born into Brothels should be considered a documentary
at all because of the use of fictional shots.
"I visited these children a number of times over the last couple of years and
found out that almost all the children are now living even a worse life than
they were in before Ms Briski began working with them," he wrote.
"The children's despair has exacerbated because they'd hoped that with active
involvement in Ms Briski's camera project, there would be an opportunity for
them to live a better life."
But the film-makers have said the children have changed for the better, are
more "empowered" and e-mail and text them to say how much they miss them and
ask about the Oscars.
Ms Briski and Mr Kauffman plan to open an arts school in Sonagachi but have
decided not to show the documentary in India because of the potential for
"trouble".
Mr Kauffman said they were honouring the wishes of the women shown in the film,
who wanted their identities protected, and their children.
Some viewers at a recent Washington screening said they were disturbed by what
they described as the self-congratulatory nature of the documentary, which they
said ignored Indian charities that toiled in the tough district.
Some Indian viewers said the film was another portrayal of a complex situation
in a poor country where "white" heroes were the saviours. But many others
praised Ms Briski's efforts to change the children's' lives.
Ms Briski first went to Calcutta in 1997 to photograph the women - but ended up
focusing on the children she befriended.
She lived in the red light area off and on for more than a year, when she
filmed the children while battling Indian bureaucracy and social attitudes to
get them into better schools.
Ms Briski gave them easy-to-handle cameras, discovering several budding
photographers with keen eyes for unusual shots.
Avijit, an exceptionally bright boy, was soon taking photos good enough to get
him invited to Amsterdam to judge a children's competition. But getting a
passport for him became a monumental problem.
Puja, an impish girl, was the spark of the group while the sister and brother
duo of Shanti and Manik casually talked about playing on the roof while their
mother was "working in the room".
Mr Kauffman said they had raised almost $100,000 (£52,400) by selling
prints of the children's photographs - 100% of which would go towards their
education.
"We are very careful about the money we receive on the kids' behalf," he later
said.
"We have told the kids that they have this money set aside for their education.
If they choose education, they will be able to go all the way through to
university."
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