In 1997, professional photographer Zana Briski arrived in Calcutta’s red light district to begin a project about the lives of local prostitutes. She soon found herself captivated not by the prostitutes, but by their children. Due to abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these children have little chance of escaping their mothers’ fates or creating new lives. Briski selects a group of kids who are most eager to learn and teaches them photography in hopes of giving them new eyes to see the world.
 In Born into Brothels, directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the red light district children they come to know. Briski’s photography lessons ignite the latent sparks of artistic talent residing in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless of worlds. During the course of the film, the audience discovers the children’s new hopes and dreams through photographs taken by the children. Devoid of sentimentality, the directors defy the typical tear-stained tourist snapshot of the global underbelly. Honest and unflinching, Born Into Brothels is a powerful documentary that awakens us all to the power of art and its ability to elevate and inspire the lives of both the artists and the audience. (Lim Sung-min)