B. Feature Length Documentaries: “Important Documentaries” - Born Into Brothels

The extent of the feature length documentary, Born Into Brothels, co-directed by a New York based photojournalist Zana Briski and the filmmaker Ross Kaufman takes place in Calcutta, India. Calcutta is the second largest city in India and one of the largest in the world. Within this remorseless city is the Red Light District, known to candidly demonstrate many of society's forbidden practices: women forced to either "walk the line" (prostitution) or clean houses, and many of the men suffer from drug abuse or alcoholism.

The documentary follows Zana Briski's efforts to teach photography and further improve educational opportunities for the several children she was privileged to instruct. At first, she was interested in capturing the lives of the prostitutes, but her interests shortly altered to the children surrounded by the undignified practices of sex trade. She teaches the children to not be ashamed of exercising their talent, to dream big and never lose sight of it, to expand their horizons and futures. To help keep the children off the street, Briski would instruct photography classes, take them on field trips and creates their own art exhibit to display their photographs.

The movies' main characters are the children from the red light district: Kochi, Avijit, Shanti, Manik, Puja Mukerjee, Gour, Suchitra, Tapasi and Mamuni. Briski doesn't just simply document the children's environment. Instead, she does something revolutionary: She empowers them to document it for themselves, allowing the children to speak for themselves through personal interviews, their own photographs taken in class and their joyful spirit. It’s a testament to the abilities of these Calcutta children that the most touching images revealed in Born Into Brothels are those taken by themselves. 

The footage taken was tastefully raw, genuine, heart breaking and life changing. The simplicity of the filmmaking behind this documentary is what allows the audience to connect deeper and be moved more dramatically than other films today. The personal interviews with the children were personal, innocent, true and pure. Briski`s own personal interviews revealed her passion and concern for the issues she face throughout the documentary. The music chosen for this piece was very effective for it set the mood and helped guide the storyline fluently.


The relationship shared between Briski and the children is what makes this documentary powerfully beautiful. This bond of trust between the filmmakers and their subjects exemplifies the kind of personal involvement that many documentary makers are striving for these days.