[Reader-list] film on sonagachi wins oscar

[sudhesh]

Today morning I woke up to an strange news. A documentary film Born
Into Brothels has won the Oscar for the best documentary and already
there are questions raised against how the filmmakers were allowed
access into the lives of the children.  How come this group of white
filmmakers were allowed to shoot in Sonagachi?

But first some info about the film (and for this I depend on
rediff.com reports)
Zana Briski, whose film Born Into Brothels about her work with the
children of Kolkata prostitutes won the best documentary Oscar, will
soon see her inspiring film expand from its current screen count
(about 40) to hundreds of screens across North America and Europe.

The British Broadcasting Corporation recently quoted Partha Banerjee,
who interpreted for the Bengali-speaking children and English-speaking
filmmakers, complaining there were 'ethical and stylistic' problems
with the documentary. Banerjee also wondered why the film should be
considered a documentary as it used fictional shots. He also wrote to
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organiser of the
Oscars, asserting the experience made the children's lives 'worse,'
not better.

The filmmakers probably new that this might happen and anticipated
this. Look at what they say on rediff.com

Three months ago, Briski told rediff.com in New York that even if the
film were to win an Oscar, she would not want it to be seen in India
except at film festivals because she had promised to protect the
identities of the prostitutes from police and politicians.

What does she mean by saying that the children needed protection from
Indians? Do western tourist not go to such places? Hasn't she been
told about the arrests in Goa of several western tourists on charges
of pedophilia? I am sure the film must be already doing the rounds in
these circles in Europe and America.

My point is this – had an Indian filmmaker made such a film we would
have torn that person apart. Why let them go without an explanation?
And how did they pull off this scam?

Regards
sudhesh