Zana denies links with Kids with Cameras

A poster of 'Born into Brothels'. (Images courtesy: IMDB)

Two days after being accused of unethical fundraising and breaching promise, New York based photographer and Oscar winning documentary director of ‘Born into Brothels’, Zana Briski, made an effort to stay clear of it. The allegations made by four teens of Sonagachi, the North Kolkata red light zone, involved Zana and the no-profit organisation Kids with Cameras she founded in 2002. In an e-mail sent to ilovekolkata on Friday, August 08, Zana stated, ‘I am no longer involved with Kids with Cameras as I am deeply involved with another project which keeps me busy and largely out of touch.’

The website of Kids with Cameras, however, is still showing that she is a member of the organisation. According to the website, the other two members of the organisation are Geralyn White Dreyfous and Rebecca Burton.

Back in 1997, Zana first travelled to Sonagachi, and tried to get close to the resident prostitutes and their children. She provided the kids with cameras and taught the art of looking through, onto a world merrier, brisker and better. One year and a few visits on, she almost started to look like a rescuer. Along with Ross Kauffman, she made a documentary on the young photographers and their mothers, and promised to take care of the kids’ education and well-being through the proceeds of the sales of the photographs. Ross Kauffman’s name appears on the Kids with Cameras website as a Friend.

Her documentary, Born into Brothels, won the 77th annual Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2004. Four years on, the lives of the main characters of the film can inspire another documentary, but one has to set it in the dystopia of flesh-trade again. Puja, a teen now, has taken up prostitution. Tapasi joined a third-rate dance troop. Suchitra was married off underage, nobody knows where she is now.

Four of the eight kids featured in Zana’s documentary— Puja, Tapasi, Kochi and Gour—have recently come out with their allegations in a Bengali newspaper. The root of it all is ensconced in the website www.kids-with-cameras.org, where the young photographers’ works are still on sale. Zana founded this non-profit organization, Kids with Cameras, in 2002—shortly after her stint in Sonagachi and before the documentary had released. Apparently, Zana’s second objective for visiting the Kolkata brothels was kept a secret. Says Indrani Sinha, the head of a city based NGO, Sanglap, which played a liaison between Zana and the kids initially, “I came to know of it when Zana wrote to me for having the consent letters signed by three members of my organisation, who were featured in the film. Zana’s friend Ross never told anyone why he was shooting video clips.”

Though the images shot by the children are still on sale, the four have alleged that the money stopped trickling down to them long back. This caused Kochi to leave Sabera Home, a rehabilitation centre where she was given accommodation. The girl had to be put up elsewhere— in all likelihood, at a relative’s place. However, the information provided on the website is away from reality. It informs, ‘Kochi, 16, stayed at the Sabera Home for Girls for five years. She has chosen to continue her studies in India and she will enroll in school this spring.’ ‘Tapasi, 18, left Sabera on her own accord two years ago and has since married.’ And, ‘Suchitra, 21, has married and moved out of Kolkata.’

Interestingly, the co-director, Ross Kauffman, has informed that Zana snapped her links with him sometime back. The gist of all that Ross’ e-mail has to say: Total eight kids worked for the film. Of them, four are still receiving aids from the proceeds. Those who have complained, are not getting any help as they’ve refused to continue with their studies.

“Let alone refusing to study, the five (includes Suchitra) could never get through the telephone number that Zana gave them”, says Indrani Sinha. “Does Zana know of the awful consequences that awaited the kids once her film won the Oscar? The school where two kids were studying refused to accommodate them after their photos were published in local newspapers, lest the boy’s presence blot their reputation.”

Gour, one of the two boys featured in the documentary, has become a labourer. The paltry wage he makes from a small factory falls short of the needs for even a hand to mouth existence. He said that they didn’t know a documentary was being made. And the telephone number that Zana- aunty gave him was constantly giving out no reply when he tried to contact her.

The luck of the other boy, Abhijit, proved much better, as he is the one who seems to have benefitted from Zana. Having a background of studying in a reputed English Medium school of Kolkata helped him earn a berth in a good US school. Kids with Cameras arranged for the expenses of his migration and studies. He, expectedly, is not among the kids who complained against Zana.

Puja’s fate couldn’t possibly get any worse. Back to the nightmare from where she once tried to escape, she said that she wanted to become a photographer after her studies, but poverty forced her into the slush of prostitution.

Zana Briski started off as a photographer, morphed into a documentary maker during her days in Kolkata, and now, according to her personal website, is back to her old love— animals, insects and the natural world. Her current project is a photographic one—named Reverence, and she has plans to produce a series of dramatic insect portraits. Zana’s e-mail says: 'My relationship with the kids is personal and I honor and respect them for striving to make their lives better.'

Zana’s usage of the word personal in her e-mail alludes to the possibility that there is no official document with the accusers to underpin the allegation of the breach of promise. It’s also indicative that as she is not on board, it’s the organisation which will have to face all such questions henceforth. However, her presumptions may not be right, not as long as the website of Kids with Cameras shows her as a member.

Indrani Sinha brings in an all too familiar angle to the episode, “Zana refused to talk when I called her up. Instead, one of her confidants e-mailed me in abusive language. Were it not for them, I would never have known how foreigners make money simply by exploiting the poor of this country.”