Born Into Brothels (2004)

"The men who come to our building are not so good," says Suchitra, a quiet 14-year-old girl born into three generations of prostitutes. "They drink and they swear… The women ask me, when will you join the line?"

In this month's journey, we travel to Sonagachi, the oldest and the largest red light district of Calcutta through the documentary Born Into Brothels. In 1997, photographer Zana Briski decided to capture images of Sonagachi. She became a resident of the brothel for five years. But after three years of trying to immerse herself in the lives of the women and finding little success, she found that the children were the ones who would let her into their lives and reveal the most about what it means to live in a world surrounded by the illegal.

Briski begins a photography class for children from the brothel. She empowers them to document their daily lives, providing cameras and teaching them how to use them. Through the film-making of the children, a parade of moments are presented to us – some joyful, some sad, but all part of their lives and shown through their eyes.

The goal of this documentary is not to depict the problems of Sonagachi as they are, but to convert our perception of brothel life and its children from hopelessness and the unapproachable to a more tangible reality. Born Into Brothels is more than a testimony of poverty, oppression, and being trapped by a social upbringing. It is a portrait of the lives of children who are as perceptive as the best of us – young people who have dreams and enough skills to fulfill them, but because they were born in this place, have an extra mountain to climb.

Winner of the Academy Award for the Best Documentary, Born Into Brothels won't disappoint you. It will show you beauty and startle you with humor, despite the harshest circumstances. In Bengali and English with subtitles. You can still catch it at Landmark's E Street Cinema.