By Sujoy Dhar
KOLKATA, India, Mar 3 2005 (IPS)

Life in the mean streets of Kolkata’s biggest red light district Sonagachi had only hopelessness to offer them. But the moments of glory at this year’s Oscar night in Los Angeles might change the lives of the little shutterbugs who are ‘Born into Brothels’ – much to the chagrin of a few sex workers’ organisations who have slammed the documentary as ”lacking depth”.

On Feb. 28, the children of Sonagachi cut cakes and rejoiced that Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman’s ‘Born into Brothels’ won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.

British-born photographer Briski in ‘Born Into Brothels’ documents the life of eight children of sex workers in squalid Sonagachi and their struggle to better themselves through creativity, using still cameras.

Sonagachi, which has about 9,000 prostitutes – comprising 6,000 full-timers and 3,000 ‘casuals’ – is also well-known for the HIV/AIDS awareness programmes carried out there by the sex workers themselves. And these programmes have recently received international recognition.

The U.S.-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has used the Sonagachi programmes as models for a 200 million U.S. dollar funded project in six Indian cities.

Briski first set out for Kolkata in 1998 to photographs the lives of prostitutes in the red-light district. Living in a brothel to gain an insider’s perspective, she quickly became attached to the sex-workers’ young children, charmed by their spirit and tenacity.

She purchased simple point-and-shoot cameras and began teaching the kids about the art of photography. Within a short time, Briski put down her own lens in favor of a video camera, and called upon her then-boyfriend, filmmaker Ross Kauffman, to join her in Kolkata. Together, the two created ‘Born into Brothels’, exploring Briski’s journey to empower these children through photography, and ultimately, to get them out of the brothels.

”The film has changed our lives. We owe so much to Zana auntie,” said Puja, a 14-year-old girl who flaunted before the media a companion book of their photographs.

An exhibition of the children’s photography has toured the world; sales of their photos and a companion book have raised close to 100,000 U.S. dollars.

Puja said on Briski’s insistence many of her friends and other children had enrolled in schools and are pursuing other vocational courses. ”I myself have begun taking computer classes,” said the girl with an impish grin.

Briski has also helped many boys like Abhijit Das and Manik Das to go to school. ”I can speak in English now. Zana auntie sent me to an English medium school,” said a proud 15-year-old Abhijit in a British accent.

The children said they woke up early to catch the Oscars live on television. Once their film won the award, sweets were distributed, cakes cut and wishes exchanged as journalists and photographers trooped into Sonagachi to make their day.

Briski also called Puja on her mobile to inquire about them and pass on the news of the Oscar win.

”Never before have we earned such importance in life be it from the common people or from the media,” Puja told IPS.

Said Abhijit: ”We are very happy ever since we received news that the film got the award. We consider this our film and our award.”

However, Durbar Mahila Samannyay Samity (DMSS), the umbrella organisation of about 60,000 sex workers in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, slammed the makers of ‘Born into Brothels’ saying it ”does not depict the actual conditions of sex workers”.

”What is most shocking is that we never knew that either Briski or Kauffman were filming our kids. They did it on the sly,” said organisation secretary Mrinal Kanti Dutta, who is the son of a former sex worker.

”One has to understand the plight of these kids and the difficult conditions in which they survive. But the filmmakers took the kids away with them without our knowledge and filmed them near the Babughat by the Ganges,” he told IPS.

Dutta brought out the flaws in the documentary.

” I have seen the film and it shows that the children of sex workers had to undergo an HIV test before being admitted to schools in 1998. It is absurd that such things happened at that time,” he pointed out.

”In some parts, the documentary shows that mothers are just too keen to introduce their daughters into the trade. This is gross and it wrongly portrays our women,” added Dutta.

Smarajit Jana, chief architect of the Sonagachi women’s Movement for Dignity and Safe Sex, said the documentary lacked depth in the subject matter.

”The directors never tried to understand the seriousness of the matter. And the irony is that whenever a film, or any other form of art, on the life of the sex workers’ children is done, there is a readymade sympathy,” she pointed out.

DMSS president and former sex worker Swapna Gayen said though they had been struggling for their rights and for the well being of their children in the city’s largest red light area, ”we were never consulted before the documentary was made”.

”Whatever may be the film’s content, no good work can be done without a proper understanding of the matter,” she said.

The sex workers are holding meetings and even organising press conferences to announce their future course of action. Till now they have ruled out seeking legal action against the documentary makers.

The widely acclaimed ‘Born into Brothels’ won a string of accolades, including the audience award for a documentary at the Sundance Film Festival where it was also nominated for the Grand Jury prize in that category.

Though reluctant to show the documentary in India to protect some identities, both Briski and Kauffman said they plan to build a school, from the film proceeds, in Kolkata for the children.

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