Academy Award Winner Talks at Rutgers on Making Social Change through Film

WHAT: A screening of the film “Born into Brothels,” followed by a talk, “Film Making Social Change.”

WHO: Ross Kauffman, director, producer, cinematographer and co-editor of “Born into Brothels,” and winner of the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary, will deliver the lecture.

WHEN: Monday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. to view the documentary. The lecture will begin at 8 p.m.

WHERE: Rutgers Student Center, Multipurpose Room, 126 College Ave., New Brunswick

BACKGROUND: “Born into Brothels” is a portrait of several children who live in the “red light district” of Calcutta, India, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Cameras were given to each of the children to capture the world around them.  In 2004, the film won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Documentary of the Year award and the Human Rights Watch Nestor Almendros Prize for Courage in Filmmaking.

Kauffman is working on a variety of projects, including “War Photographers,” a television series following the lives of five photojournalists from around the globe; “Dear John,” the story of a mother’s spiritual and emotional search for her missing son; and “PENNY,” a film about a 13-year-old Tanzanian girl’s descent into and eventual escape from a life of domestic servitude.

This program is sponsored by several Rutgers organizations, including the Association of Indians at Rutgers, the Office of the Vice President for Undergraduate Education, the South Asian Studies Program, Rutgers Amnesty International, Rutgers Coalition Against Trafficking, Writers House and Ubuntu.