Monday, August 21, 2006

Wilmington, N.C. - Zana Briski, cinematographer, director and producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary Born Into Brothels will speak Monday, Sept. 18 at University of North Carolina Wilmington. Named Best Documentary Feature for 2004, Born Into Brothels chronicles the transformation of children born to prostitutes in the red-light district of Calcutta, as Briski teaches them the art and power of photographing their world. The film will be shown at 5:15 p.m. with the lecture at 7 p.m. in Kenan Auditorium. The talk launches the UNCW Leadership Lecture Series and is co-sponsored by Film Studies and Women's Resource Center. It will be followed by a question and answer period and book signing.

Born and raised in London, 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.

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, 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.

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. She is the recipient of the 2005 Lucie Humanitarian Award and is self-publishing her first book, Brothel.

"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." Newsweek

In conjunction with Briski's lecture, UNCW will host a photography exhibition by Kids with Cameras Sept. 15-29 in the Warwick Center Lobby. Free and open to the public. For more information about Kids with Cameras, visit www.kids-with-cameras.org.

BOX OFFICE AND TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets are free for UNCW students, faculty and staff, and $7 for the general public. For tickets and information, call Kenan Box Office at 910.962.3500 or 800.732.3643 outside the Wilmington area, or by visiting www.uncw.edu/presents. Box office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

ABOUT UNCW LEADERSHIP LECTURE SERIES

The Leadership Lecture Series invites nationally and internationally-known speakers who enlighten, challenge, inspire, and demonstrate that all people have the ability to lead if they have the desire to make a difference. Sponsored by UNCW Presents, the series serves as a forum for intellectual inquiry and discussion offering the campus and community opportunities to discuss and explore the political, cultural, and economic trends and issues that shape and affect our communities today. By inviting a speaker to the campus, the university does not endorse any particular position. For more information about the series, please visit www.uncw.edu/presents.

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