FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GAINESVILLE PARTICIPATING IN WORLDWIDE SCREENING OF BORN INTO BROTHELS TO CELEBRATE GANDHI’S BIRTHDAY AND RAISE FUNDS FOR FILM’S LEGACY PROJECT, HOPE HOUSE
Gainesville, FL – September 23, 2009 – On Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, the Kids with Cameras Foundation will celebrate Mahatma Gandhi’s 140th birthday with a worldwide screening of the Academy Award-winning documentary film Born into Brothels.
A Gainesville screening party will be held at 7:30pm at Randy Batista Photography Gallery, 21 SE 2nd Place. Entry to the event is a sliding scale $5+ for students, $10+ for all others. Cash and check are preferred. Gainesville’s community is asked to “be the change you wish to see in the world” by attending this event, which is raising funds for the film’s legacy project-- Hope House.
The Gainesville Benefit to Build Hope House also features guest speakers including Anita Anantharam, Assistant Professor at the University of Florida Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research and Faculty-in-Residence for the Global Living-Learning Community, and Gaurav Tuteja, president of the Indian Graduate Student Association at University of Florida. You will also be immersed in art and music with an Indian heritage and items including signed Born into Brothels posters will be available.
Born into Brothels, by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski, won Best Documentary Feature at the 77th Annual Academy Awards. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels portrays several unforgettable children who live in Calcutta’s red-light district, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana Briski, a New York-based photographer, gives each of the children a camera and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes.
Through a partnership with the Buntain Foundation, Hope House is a landmark endeavor to house up to 100 girls who are daughters of prostitutes from the same red-light district featured in the film. Hope House will give them access to on-site physical and psychological care, as well as formal mentorship from nursing students from an adjacent College of Nursing, all on a quiet, rustic campus on the city’s outskirts. Each girl will have a full scholarship for private school education through high school, as well as access to computer labs, English language instruction and art, film and photography classes.
In order to complete the Hope House project, the Kids With Cameras Foundation must raise the remaining 60% of its $1.2 million goal. The foundation plans to break ground in early 2010 with an anticipated opening date of early 2011. 100% of the proceeds from the October 2 screenings worldwide will go directly to the Hope House project.
Ross Kauffman, co-director and producer of Born into Brothels, said "I hope all of the film's fans and our past supporters will join us in this unprecedented effort to raise the completion funds to build Hope House. It was a dream of ours as we made the film to have a place for these children to learn and grow. The dream is close to becoming a reality. There is no better way for anyone that watches the film and falls in love with these kids, just as we did, to make a difference in their future."
The Kids with Cameras Foundation was established in 2002 to raise awareness and help the Born into Brothels children through book sales, exhibitions and film festivals. The children's images have been exhibited in Calcutta, Europe and the United States. These photos were published in a 2004 book and the foundation has also created an educational curriculum based on the film for students and teachers interested in learning more. The group also works with local organizations in marginalized communities around the world to offer photography workshops, aimed at improving children’s well-being and education.
for more information:
Sarah Fitzpatrick- (352)339-3051
Lauren Lake- (352) 374-0988
