This Day in Indie History: Born Into Brothels

Zana Brinski and Ross Kauffman’s Born Into Brothels opened at New York City’s Film Forum on this day in 2004, garnering rave reviews nearly across the board. As the shining documentary star of the year, the movie won the 2004 Sundance Audience Award in the Documentary category, as well as the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature the following year. The movie follows Brinski’s success at teaching the art of photography to children of the district’s prostitutes.

Film Factoid: Brinski first went to Calcutta in 1997 with the intention of photographing the prostitutes of the Red Light district. While it was often difficult to gain permission to photograph of the women, she found willing participants in their children, who were often eager to pose for the camera, and later, master the craft.