Award-winning film director to appear at
Christopher Newport University
News Release - August 29, 2005
contact:
Karen L. Gill
karen.gill@cnu.edu
(757) 594-8428
Zana Briski, Academy-award winning documentary filmmaker, will speak at Christopher Newport University following a screening of her film, “Born into Brothels.” |
(NEWPORT NEWS, VA) — Zana Briski, cinematographer, director and producer of the Academy-award-winning documentary "Born into Brothels," will speak Sept. 19 at Christopher Newport University's Ferguson Center for the Arts following a screening of the film. Named Best Documentary Feature for 2005, "Born into Brothels" chronicles the transformation of children born to prostitutes in the red-light district of Calcutta, India, as Briski teaches them the art and power of photographing their world. " 'Born Into Brothels' gives us intimate access to a world we've never seen before. It's an artful film about, among many other things, the power of art to transform lives ... a remarkable and moving story," according to a Newsweek magazine review. The film will be shown at 7 p.m., Sept. 19, at the Ferguson Center for the Arts' Theatre and Music Hall. Part of CNU's Dean William Parks Colloquium for 2005-'06, the event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Professor Roberta Rosenberg at (757) 594-7149.
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Briski's mission
Born and raised in London, England, Briski earned a master's degree in theology and religious studies from the University of Cambridge before shifting gears to study at the International Center of Photography in New York City. She first traveled to India in 1995, where she was moved by the women she encountered, and she began to document the harsh physical and social realities of their lives. Her work on female infanticide earned a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and a National Press Photographers Association Picture of the Year Award.
New York became Briski's adopted home, but India kept drawing her back. When a friend introduced her to Calcutta's red-light district in 1997, she understood immediately that she had come to India to live with and photograph the prostitutes in the brothels. She received fellowships in support of this work from the Open Society Institute and the Alicia Patterson Foundation, and was twice nominated for the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography. Her photographs of life in the brothels earned first prize from the World Press Photo Foundation, a Dorothea Lange – Paul Taylor Prize from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and the Howard Chapnick Grant for the Advancement of Photojournalism.
The children living in the red-light district were so fascinated by Briski's camera that she decided to set up a workshop to teach them photography. "Born into Brothels" is a chronicle of her three years with the kids in the workshop, including her attempts to get them into good schools. In an ongoing effort to help the kids fund their education, prints of their work are now sold through Kids with Cameras, the non-profit organization that Briski founded to empower marginalized children around the world through photography. Briski has been named the 2005 Lucie Humanitarian Award recipient for her efforts and her achievements in photography, and she is self-publishing her first book, "Brothel."
Information about the film and Kids with Cameras is available at the website, www.kids-with-cameras.org.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Business and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. Visit us at www.cnu.edu.