"It's almost impossible to photograph in the red light district." "Everyone is terrified of the camera." "They are frightened of being found out." "Everything is illegal." "There's a whole separate society within itself... I mean, you just walk down that one lane and it's another world." "I knew I couldn't do this as a visitor." "I wanted to stay with them, live with them and understand their lives." "And of course, as soon as I entered the brothels... I met the children." "The brothels are filled with children, they are everywhere." "And they were so curious." "They didn't understand why this woman had come and what I was doing there." "They were all over me, and I would play with them." "And take their photographs and they would take mine." "They wanted to learn how to use the camera." "That's when I thought it would be really great to teach them... and to see this World through their eyes." "When you hold the camera, take your time to look." "Don't just go like this." "If it's not right here... I'll move a little bit... and make sure everything in the whole square... looks good and then I'll take the picture." "So just do it more slowly." "So I want her to look." "People ask me why am I in India, why I come and do this work." "There's no rational, logical reason why I do this... but I feel very connected to the women... and now their children." "Does she like this one?" "She should be able to say why she likes a photo or doesn't like it." "She doesn't have to agree with anyone." "You know what?" "She's right, it's one head sticking out." "That's why I like it and that's why she doesn't like it." "This picture is funny to me." "Maybe it's just because I'm a westerner... but they look like an old married couple holding their twins." "Kochi is very shy and demure." "So if somebody is gonna force her into prostitution she's not going to say no." "She's never said no in her life." "So you can imagine what's going to happen to her very soon." "The children ask me for help." "They ask for it all the time." "And it's heartbreaking, there's so little I can do... all I can do is try." "Look that building!" "I'm gonna take a picture to." "Why don't you go faster?" "You're going so slowly!" "Am I doing it right?" "You shot two rolls of film which is very good." "But the pictures all came out blank which was not very good." "Why?" "Because you went out at night, right?" "You should know by now... you can't shoot at night without a flash." "She's really good at photographing on the street... and no one has really done that in her neighborhood." "Like outside her house." "And she's very bold." "Tell her that you know how people get angry on the street... but she's so bold she gets away with it." "She's one of the few people in the class." "Yeah, because she is very strong." "The greatgrandmother, the grandmother the mother are prostitutes... but they have better surroundings." "It's a Brahman family, they're very sort of regal... because she eats well, she's dressed well... she's not obviously poor... but she's heading for prostitution." "Why do you think it is yours?" "I know!" "But just because it's your camera... doesn't mean it's your photo." "A composition means how you put shapes into the box." "The lines of a picture." "These are all very, very good compositions." "You can see everything that is going on around." "There's so much information in this picture." "There's layers of people in the foreground... middle, back..." "and it's just a beautiful photograph." "Suchitra!" "One of the girls was already married off at age 11." "Another was forced into prostitution at age 14." "These are all my students." "They have absolutely no opportunity without education." "The question is can I find a school?" "A good school... that will take kids that are children of prostitutes." "I'm totally independent." "I've been living and working... in the red light district in North Calcutta for a number of years." "Which red light district?" "Ramagana Sonogachi." "Where you've been living for a number of years?" "On and off, so I've been teaching well." "Basically." "I'm a photographer and I've been photographing the lives of the women... and I got very close to the children... and I started teaching them photography two years ago." "There's one group I'm very close to... and I'm trying to get them out of the brothels." "Trying to find schools, good schools for them, but... I'm looking for a boarding school... cause otherwise they go back to the red light district and then..." "One of the girls was already forced into prostitution." "These kids want to be out of there." "Are there any boarding schools that will take them?" "Cause I found that people don't want to deal with children of sex workers." "No place is the right place." "Nobody will take them." "Who will take them?" "I love this, because it's a self portrait... but you can also see the street." "You can see the environment where he is." "He's just got so many different kinds of pictures on this one contact sheet." "And the details here, the windows, the shutters and wires." "So many different angles, and things in the foreground, and background... and men sleeping and walking and everything." "Just a very good contact sheet." "One minute." "One minute." "Could you ask everyone if they've got their cameras cause I don't see them all." "Okay." "We're leaving." "Look at the water!" "There are animals there." "Look at the sky." "The moon!" "Let me go!" "Let me go!" "Let me go!" "Oh God!" "I'm not a social worker." "I'm not a teacher, even." "That's my fear, you know, that I really can't do anything." "And that even helping them to get an education is not going to do anything." "But without help, they're doomed." "We're going to go and find out exactly what we need for the school applications." "I've got the original birth certificates, Xeroxes of the birth certificates." "The reason this is so difficult is cause their parents cannot be criminals." "And their parents are all criminals." "They're all prostitutes, dealing drugs, selling alcohol illegally." "I don't understand, you know." "Everyday." "Come tomorrow, it will be done." "You said it would be done today." "You promised it would be done today." "You promised it would be done last Tuesday." "You can't put a stamp on this?" "He spells it with a "V"." "It's on his birth certificate as a "V"." "The original ration card says "V"." "V. I." "Aiy, V. I." "V. V." "I just wanna know how long it's supposed to take once you have all this stuff." "I could kill this ration guy." "So I need to go over everything that they need because I don't, I don't..." "Yeah, birth certificates." "l have birth certificates." "And ration cards." "They don't, I mean, if I have to go to that ration card office again... I think I'll just jump off a bridge." "Oh my God. I've already..." "Okay." "Medical certificate, some sort of medical certificate." "I have no idea." "I mean, I'll do it, if you want, but I don't know." "Just get a medical certification." "So I'll have to take them to the doctor." "Kianti: bad news." "Potentially devastating news." "She called and she said that the medical tests are compulsory... and they can't move ahead until I have the results of the hiv tests." "And that if they have hiv, they won't take them." "Now I'm gonna tie the band." "ls it tight?" "It has to be." "Does it hurt?" "A little bit." "Let's see this vein." "I'm afraid." "Take it easy." "We're done." "Perfect." "That's it." "Very good." "Keep your arm like this and hold it tight." "Good news." "They're all negative." "Very happy." "Right now, I'm looking for grant money." "My goal now is, I mean, is to teach them... but also to raise money for them using their own photography... selling their photographs to raise money for them." "Amnesty International is going to use the kids'photos for their calendar." "And the photos are being auctioned at Sotheby's." "The whole point of this is to get the kids out of the brothels." "It's Shantis photograph." "I don't know if you know Robert Pledge from contact Press Images... but he's come out to teach the kids." "He runs a pretty major photo agency in New York City." "He's become very involved in the project, and very supportive." "Can you all look here and tell me if there are other pictures... in this series that any one of you like particularly." "And uh..." "Sorry." "When I first saw this picture it was very strange because..." "Avijit is very, very exceptional." "Very special." "He has a natural talent." "And... this organization in Holland, called the World Press Photo Foundation... every year invites nine children from all over the world... to come and spend one week in Amsterdam... and look at photographs... that are made by 4,000 photographers all over the world." "And one of our ideas is to get..." "Avijit to come and be the child photographer from India... to be present at this show." "And this is a very special thing." "As a grandmother, you should feel very happy and very proud." "So far we've had two exhibitions in NY, but you haven't been able to be there." "So... I've organized an exhibition at the Oxford bookstore on Park Street... of your photographs." "Only of your photographs." "And..." "So you will all be the guests of honor." "You're mothers are invited as well, so all of your... lf anybody looks after the baby, they want 10 rupees." "Oh, they're all here." "Amazing." "How are you?" "l am very well, thank you." "How are you?" "In yesterday's newspaper... there's an article." "You are published on the front page of the biggest newspaper in India." "I'm gonna show you the pictures we're gonna put on the wall." "Who's picture is this?" "Shanti." "Shanti." "Like it?" "This is another picture." "What do you think?" "This is... these are who's?" "Avijit." "And the last picture is the one that's in the newspaper." "That's it." "Congratulations." "And now, they get to sign the pictures." "Yes, lots of people." "Oh my God." "Our pictures." "That's us there." "I like it very much." "l like it..." "l like it..." "very much." "very much." "This is her hand." "Her hand in front of the camera." "These photographs will now travel to different parts of the world." "And the proceeds from these exhibitions will go to one single purpose... a decent education for the children, and hopefully a chance... to know a world outside of the Red Light areas of Calcutta." "Star News." "Avijit's mother died." "Some kind of kitchen explosion accident." "I hope it wasn't..." "Do you know how she died, what happened?" "That's what I thought, as soon as I heard kitchen accident." "I'm very worried about him now with this news." "Will there be any police?" "Nothing." "So sad." "Wait, wait, wait." "I want to talk about this." "He won't be coming today." "Everybody knows that Avijit is supposed to go to Amsterdam." "He still hasn't got his passport... because there were a lot of problems." "But if he goes, he's going to represent all of you and the photo class... and all of the hard work that you've been doing." "Did they invited us in?" "Why didn't you come today?" "l went to art class." "my friends had to come tell me." "I want to get his two rolls of film." "He's got school in the morning and he's got school until five, right?" "What about your photography?" "You don't care?" "I could not get a passport for that kid." "I went through everything." "I couldn't do it." "Actually, it hasn't even been confirmed... so I can't even tell you his passport application has been accepted." "There is no way to get this kid's passport... because he lives in the Red Light district." "I'm afraid the whole thing's going to fall through because of..." "Well, I'm afraid the whole thing's going to fall through too." "Avijit hasn't shot anything at all, because he's just... somewhere else." "You guys, you... and you, and you... have been accepted into a school." "She can visit." "It's not like it's far." "Will we have to eat only veggie food there?" "Yuck, I don't like veggie food." "That's good." "l wanna use it too." "Hold on." "When I learn the computer..." "Puja won't eat well by herself." "She has to learn to eat by herself." "See you tomorrow." "Bye, bye." "Bye." "Bye." "Tomorrow, at eleven." "Bring your camera." "right?" "This guy, Tim Grandage, who runs Future Hope... only wants kids from bad backgrounds... so the children of sex workers." "It's for boys only." "And there's pretty much nowhere else for these kids to go." "Nobody else will take them." "I would say there are two that need to get out very urgently." "Do they know each other?" "Yeah, they live in the same brothel." "Which one you're most worried about?" "Avijit." "I mean, Avijit always's asking me... he says I hate it here, I can't do anything here, I can't study." "His one grandmother, I think, really cares for him but has no control over him." "His grandfather and his father are just sort of not effective at all." "I think he's gonna turn out to be a real bad kid soon if he doesn't get real help." "He's got an ego, for sure." "I think if he's in the right environment he'll also..." "He wants to be good." "But he has no guidance." "In the last few weeks he's had a real change of heart about everything." "And he seems to be pretty apathetic." "I think he's reached a critical point... and if he doesn't get out of there really soon, he's lost." "That's how I'm feeling about Avijit." "He's a very bright kid, very talented." "Give us five minutes." "Give us a chance and let us chat next door." "Give us five minutes." "Ok, thank you." "If you don't have a good foundation, you can't build." "But they have to start at a certain standard." "And if you work hard, then you go up very quickly." "Isn't it better to be with good people that care about you?" "And that want to teach you well?" "Than a number?" "But, you know, it's up to you." "I wanna go to school." "And as for you, if you want to go... they'll take you." "But he understands, right?" "This is the only choice." "If he doesn't take this offer then that's it, he stays at home." "There's nothing more I can do." "Or want to do." "Maneck has also, I think, been accepted into the same school as Avijit." "Everyone is going today. lt's the last chance." "There's no other opportunity." "You didn't touch your mother's feet." "Now you can go?" "It's good for her." "Her future." "One time." "I only cried a little but my mother was so sad." "Shanti." "Shanti." "Bye, Manik." "Don't cry." "Everything is gonna be alright." "They're not coming back anymore" "Now I'm going to go live with Ross" "There is no way that I'm going to get Avijit's passport... without someone higher up intervening." "I don't think this kid is going to get a passport." "School thing." "His birth certificate." "A letter from student counselor." "A copy of the ration card." "Corrections for the ration card." "Letter from Bob." "Letter from World Press Photo." "And an invitation letter for Avijit." "So, if that doesn't do it, then nothing will." "Avijit, where are you going?" "Amsterdam." "When?" "Tomorrow." "Are you excited?" "Yes." "Hold them together." "Avijit returned to Calcutta..." "Manik's father would not let him go to school." "Shanti left the Sabera school of her own accord." "Gour still lives at home..."