The most stigmatized people in Calcutta's red light district are not the prostitutes, but their children. In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of escaping their mother's fate or for creating another type of life.

In Born into Brothels, directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in the red light district. Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius that reside in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless world.

The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force.

Devoid of sentimentality, Born into Brothels defies the typical tear-stained tourist snapshot of the global underbelly. Briski spends years with these kids and becomes part of their lives. Their photographs are prisms into their souls, rather than anthropological curiosities or primitive imagery, and a true testimony of the power of the indelible creative spirit.

Ross Kauffman is the director, producer, cinematographer and co-editor of Born into Brothels, winner of the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary.

Kauffman worked as a documentary film editor from 1992 - 2000. He spent three years at Valkhn Film and Video Inc., a post-production company where he worked on a wide variety of films for producers such as Jim Lipscomb, Kevin Bachar and Melvin Van Peebles.

In 2001, Kauffman teamed up with award winning photojournalist Zana Briski to direct and produce Born into Brothels, a feature documentary about the children of Calcutta's prostitutes. In 2002, Kauffman formed Red Light Films and along with Briski was awarded grants from the Sundance Institute, the Jerome Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts to complete the film. Prior to the Academy Awards, Born into Brothels was accepted into over 30 film festivals and has since received over 40 awards, including National Board of Review Best Documentary 2004, LA Film Critics Best Documentary 2004, and the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award in 2004.

Kauffman is currently working on Project Kashmir, a documentary that takes viewers into the war-zone of Kashmir and examines the conflict from an emotional and social point of view.

Zana Briski was born in London, England. After earning a master's degree in theology and religious studies at the University of Cambridge, she studied documentary photography at International Center of Photography in New York. In 1995 she made her first trip to India, producing a story on female infanticide. In 1997 she returned to India and began her project on the prostitutes of Calcutta's red light district. Since 2000 she has conducted a series of photographic workshops with children of prostitutes in Calcutta.. In 2002 Zana created Kids with Cameras, a non-profit organization to empower marginalized children through learning the art of photography.