Zana Briski

Zana Briski ( born October 25, 1966 in London) is a British photographer and documentary filmmaker. Born in the brothel for her film - children in the red light district of Calcutta in 2005, she won an Oscar.

Life

Briski studied at the University of Cambridge and the International Center of Photography in New York. In 1995, she first traveled to India and reported on the local infanticide. In 1997 she returned there and started working on a project about prostitution in Kolkata. For her photographs Briski won numerous awards and fellowships, including a first place in the 2000 World Press Photo Foundation in the Daily Life category. In 2002 she founded the organization Kids with Cameras.

In her documentary, Born in the brothel - Children in the red light district of Calcutta ( orig: Born into Brothels: Calcutta 's Red Light Kids) about the children of prostitutes in Calcutta's red-light district for which they had researched for years and finally had 2004 premiere, she took over together with Ross Kauffman production, directing, camera work and wrote the screenplay. Both were honored at the Oscar ceremony in 2005 with an Oscar for Best Documentary. They also won a number of other awards at various international film festivals and award ceremonies, including for example the National Board of Review Award, Independent Spirit Award, or LACFA Award. Then there was the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and a nomination at the DGA Awards.