Born Into Brothels is the winner of the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The film is about the stigmatized people in Sonagachi, Calcutta's red light district, not the prostitutes, but their children. In the face of abject poverty, abuse, and despair, these kids have little possibility of building a different life.
Directors Ross Kaufmann and Zana Briski chronicle the amazing transformation of the children they come to know in Sonagachi. Briski, a professional photographer, gives them lessons and cameras, igniting latent sparks of artistic genius that reside in these children who live in the most sordid and seemingly hopeless world. The photographs taken by the children are not merely examples of remarkable observation and talent; they reflect something much larger, morally encouraging, and even politically volatile: art as an immensely liberating and empowering force.
Born into Brothels defies the typical tear-stained tourist snapshot of the global underbelly. Briski spends years with these kids and becomes part of their lives. Their photographs are prisms into their souls, and a true testimony of the power of the indelible creative spirit.
Sundance award-winning documentary featured on Netflix.
Anna, Ole, Fred, and Peter are four members of the Emergencies Team — or E-Team — the boots on the ground division of a respected, international human rights group. Arriving as soon as possible after allegations of human rights abuse surface, the E-Team uncovers crucial evidence to determine if further investigation is warranted and, if so, to investigate, document, and capture the world’s attention. They also immediately challenge the responsible decision makers, holding them accountable. Human rights abuses thrive on secrecy and silence, and the work of the E-Team, backed by their international human rights organization, has shone light in dark places and given voice to thousands whose stories would never otherwise have been told.
Using a cinema verite approach, our camera embeds with the E-Team investigators in the field as they piece together the actual events that take place in various troubled spots around the globe. Together we smuggle across the border into Syria to conduct undercover investigations as the civil war rages; amidst bullets and bombs we watch as Fred and Peter work to halt human rights abuses in the aftermath of the Gaddafi regime. We also spend time with each E-Team member at home — from a quiet farm outside of Geneva to bustling urban lives in Berlin and Paris — as they balance the intricacies of family and personal relationships within the challenges of their exceptional work life.
Though they are different personalities, Anna, Ole, Fred and Peter share a fearless spirit and a deep commitment to exposing and halting human rights abuses all over the world.
Directed by Ross Kauffman and Katy Chevigny
Produced by Marilyn Ness
Who would dare to pit one fatal disease against another... inside the body of a six-year-old patient? The results will shatter all expectations. GE works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges.
Tough Guys brings to life the loosely regulated mixed martial arts competitions of 1980s Pittsburgh that served as a precursor to what has now become a global phenomenon. The feature-length documentary explores the development of the mixed martial arts movement.
Directed by Ross Kauffman and featuring Katie Holmes, Ajay Naidu, Scott Organ, and Tara Summers. Written by Addie Morfoot and Ross Kauffman.
The short, based on a true story, is a dark comedy about a gay couple trying to adopt a newborn from a drug-addict and her abusive girlfriend.
Shot on the iPhone 7 Plus. Made possible by Apple.
Aasif Mandvi headlined a night of comedy for the Deportation Jamboree to raise money for the ACLU and The International Rescue Committee, along with Lewis Black, Wanda Sykes, Connie Britton, Roy Wood Jr, Sasheer Zamata, Seth Herzog, Questlove, Riz Ahmed, Heems, Sarah Wayne Callies and more.
Produced by Fictionless in collaboration with Huffington Post, this live stream garnered thousands of dollars to help those facing deportation from the United States.
