Name of Film: Anamika (The Nameless)
Type: Documentary
Country: India
Director/Writer: Rajesh Touchriver
Date of Film: 2005
Length: 26 minutes
Contact: Unavailable
Info on Film: Anamika (The Nameless) is a documentary on trafficking of women and children from Andhra Pradesh to various parts of India. Shot in the red light areas of Pune, Mumbai and Delhi, dancing bars, nude dance programs and massage parlors, it portrays the murkier realities of the flesh trade market. It narrates how young girls are deceived, forced or coerced to enter the trade every year. The film, which begins with the landmark Gateway of India in Colaba and the adjacent Taj Hotel moves on the red light area of Mumbai. It shows commercially prostituted women openly soliciting along the streets and bargaining with the customer. Three HIV positive girls, who were rescued from the red light area by the Hyderabad-based NGO "Prajwala," narrate how they landed in the flesh trade and the sexual exploitation, pain and trauma that they had to face. A police raid and rescue of 17 minor children from the false ceiling of a tiny room in a red light area is also featured. The film raises questions on civil society's response to combat this problem and the culture of silence that has promoted demand for the flesh trade. The film's aim is to screen the film in villages and create awareness among the villagers as they are the soft targets of this racket.
Name of film: Born Into Brothels
Type: Documentary
Countries included: India
Subject: Sex Trafficking
Directors/Producers: Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman
Date of film: 2004
Length: 85 minutes
Contact Email: RossKauffman@earthlink.net
Info on
Film: 2005 Oscar-winner for Best Documentary Film. The
most stigmatized people in Sonagachi, Calcutta's
red light district, are not the prostitutes, but
their children. In the face of abject poverty,
abuse, and despair, these kids have little
possibility of escaping their mother's fate or
for creating another type of life. Devoid of
sentimentality, 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,
rather than anthropological curiosities or
primitive imagery, and a true testimony of the
power of the indelible creative spirit.
Name of Film:
Chameli
Type: Feature, dramatic film
Countries included: Nepal and India
Subject: Trafficking & HIV/AIDs
Director: Ravi Baral, ravibaral@wlink.com.np
Length: feature length
Contact information: Media Alert and Relief Foundation, PO Box 8530,
Kathmandu, Nepa;
Tel: 977-1-431-102, Fax: 977-1-430-936
URL: http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/
englishweekly/spotlight/2000/apr/apr28/national10.htm
Info on Film: a full-length movie on girl
trafficking and HIV/AIDS, was produced by the
NGO Media Alert and Relief Foundation with
private funds and with support from the
Government of Nepal, The POLICY Project (a USAID
project implemented by The Futures Group
International) and UNIFEM. Filmed on location in
Nepal's Annapurnas and Terai, Bombay and the
Indo-Nepal borders, "Chameli" tells
the story of the betrayal of a fifteen-year old
girl from a remote Himalayan village, who was
forced into prostitution in Bombay, and later
tragically returns to her village after
contracting HIV. The film was made to sensitize
Nepali communities and to challenge the
government to confront the girl trafficking
problem. In Nepali with English subtitles.
Name
of Film: The Day My God Died
Type: Documentary
Countries Included: Nepal, India
Subject: Sex Trafficking
Director: Andrew Levine
Date of Film: 2003
Length: 55 minutes
Contact Information: levine@xmission.com
URL: www.thedaymygoddied.com
Name of
Film: Four Years in Hell
Type: Documentary
Countries included: Nepal and India
Subject: Sold to Prostitution
Director: Frode Hoje Pedersen for DR TV
Date of film: New Releases From Filmakers Library
Length: 25 minutes Video. Sale $295. Rental $55.
URL: http://www.filmakers.com/indivs/Four_Years_in_Hell.htm
Info on Film: This is the story of one young girl who was sold
to a brothel in India. Trafficking in women is
big business in Nepal. Young girls are often
sold by their own families, kidnapped to other
countries and lose both their freedom and
innocence. This is the tragic story about one
such girl, Chakkali Bal. She had been living a
hard life in the hills of Nepal when at the age
of eleven she received an offer of marriage.
This was a subterfuge; her "husband"
and aunt had sold her to a brothel in India. In
India, Chakkali was forced to work as a
prostitute until freed by the Indian police four
years later. She returned to her family in Nepal
only to discover she was HIV positive. The
courageous young woman is now employed by an
organization that works to stop the traffic in
women and to educate young people about
HIV/AIDS. Chakkali has married and has found
some happiness. She says "I will die soon,
but I hope I will save a few lives before
that."
Name of Film:
Girl Trafficking
Type: Documentary
Countries included: Nepal and India
Type: Documentary
Subject: Process of Trafficking
Director: Production: Manushi for Sustainable Development
Date of film: 1994
Length: 45 min. video film is a docu-drama
Contact information: PO Box 2682, Gyaneshore, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel. Phone: 977-1-413662, Fax: 977-1-413662,
Email: thacker@sai.mos.com.np,
Sponsored by: Canadian Co-operation Office/Lazimpat, Kathmandu
Info on Film: A docu-drama that depicts
the process of trafficking of young girls from
the rural hills of Nepal to the brothels in
India. Filmed in Sindhupalchowk and Bombay, it
deals with the social ostracization of girls
infected with HIV/AIDS. It is being used as a
training tool by other NGOs on gender
sensitization at community level.
Name of film:
Highway to Hell
Type: Documentary
Countries included: Nepal, India
Subject: Trafficking
Director: Meera Dewan with Niraja Rao
Date of film: 2000
Length: 38 min. in English
Contact information: Multiple Action Research Group (MARG), 125
Shahpur Jat, 2nd Floor, Near Asiad Village, New Delhi - 110 049. Tel: 91 11
649 7483. Fax: 91 11 649 5371
E-mail: marg@del2.vsnl.net.in,
meeradewan@vsnl.com,
Tel: 614 4782, 614 2303
URL: http://hdrc.undp.org.in/childrenandpoverty/
REFERENC/FILMS/HTH/hth.htm
Info on Film: A film on cross border
trafficking of girls for prostitution - from
Nepal to India. Exploring prostitution against
the background of violence against human rights
violations - looking at the situation of the
girls and the families and the attitude of male
clients. produced by Southview Productions
for MARG (Multiple Action Research Group) funded
by CIDA. CIDA's South Asia Regional Gender
Fund.
Name of Film:
In The Flesh
Type: Documentary
Countries included: India
Subject: Prostitution
Director: Bishakha Datta
Date of film: 2002
Length: 52 min.
Contact information: Point of View (AV media on
women's issues) datta@bom3.vsnl.net.in
Tel: 493-4478, 493-4560. 2, New Pushpa
Milan, Worli Hills, Mumbai, 400-018.
Email: bishakha@vsnl.com
URL: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/
southasiacenter/in_the_flesh.htm
Name of film:
KALIGHAT-er ADI KATHA (An old tale from
Kalighat)
Type: Documentary
Countries included: Nepal
Subject: Child Trafficking
Director: Produced by students from the St. Xavier's
College, Nepal
Contact information: roopsen@hotmail.com,
rrivulaha@vsnl.net
(for purchasing)
Name of Film:
No 556, 13th Lane, Kamathipura, Mumbai
Type: Documentary Short
Director: Sushmita Basnet
Date: 2003
Length: 17 minutes
Email: bigtree_pictures@rediffmaiml.com
Info on Film: Film
shows a raid on a brothel in Mumbai, India.
Director's Note: The rescue
operation shown in No. 556 was done at the
request of enslaved girls. They sent word
through customers begging for police or NGO
intervention.
Name of
Film: The Price of Youth
Type: Documentary Short
Countries included: Nepal and India
Subject: Trafficking
Director: WITNESS
Date of film: 2000
Length: Running Time 9:20
Cost: $25.00 Video and Domestic shipping and handling,
$40.00 Video and International shipping and
handling
Contact Information: witness@witness.org
URL: http://www.witness.org
Info on Film: 'The Price of Youth'
examines the recent explosion in systematic
trafficking of young girls and women from Nepal
to work as prostitutes in Bombay, in neighboring
India. 'The Price of Youth' exposes this
horrific practice. It documents grassroots
efforts to combat the forced prostitution of
Nepali girls and to rehabilitate these young
victims.
Name of Film:
Salaam Bombay
Type: Feature dramatic film
Countries included: India
Subject: Children's life in the brothels
Director: Mira Nair
Date of film: 1988
Contact information: mira@mirabaifilms.com,
Mirabai Films, New York - (646) 486-4387
URL: http://www.mirabaifilms.com/home.html,
http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/Bahri/Nair.html
Info on Film: The main character
Krishna/Chaipau spends his time as a runner for
a tea shop in a neighborhood replete with
prostitution and the drug trade. It is in the
teeming environment of the streets that Krishna
must save 500 rupees before he returns to his
village. At the same time several episodes serve
to demonstrate the hopelessness of everyone's
condition.
Name of
Film: The Selling of Innocents
Type: Documentary
Countries Included: Nepal, India
Subject: Child slavery and brothels
Director: Ruchira Gupta
Date of Film: 1997
Length: 57 minutes
Contact Info: Email apneeaap2003@vsnl.net
for purchase information on the film
URL:www.apneaap.org,
www.adventuredivas.com/divas/article.view?page=231
Info on Film: The Selling of Innocents is a documentary
exposing the trafficking in young women and
children from the villages of Nepal to the
brothels of Mumbai. The camera pans the hovels
in the red-light area where these women service
clients to earn money to support their families
in Nepal. It is a sordid tale, told with rare
feeling and sensitivity. Selling of Innocents
wastes no time on gimmicks. It goes straight to
the heart of the matter by showing the pain and
the horror of the innocent victims of a system
which has long been there. Winner of the 1997
Emmy in News and Journalism. Shown on Cinemax
and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Name of Film:
Sisters and Daughters Betrayed
Type: Documentary
Countries included: Nepal, Thailand, Phillippines
Subject: Slavery in Prostitution
Director: Chela Blitt, Producer
Date of film: 1995
Length: 28 min.
Contact information: orders@globalfundforwomen.org
URL: www.globalfundforwomen.org
(Click on resources for sale)
Cost: $25 for individual use, discounts for students
and activists
Info on Film: Sex trafficking is a global
- and especially Asian - crisis of growing
dimensions. Millions of women and young girls
have been illegally transported from rural to
urban areas and across national borders for the
purpose of prostitution. This compelling video
explores the social and economic forces that
drive this lucrative underground trade, and the
devastating impact it has on women's lives.
Name of
Film: Tapoori
Type: Documentary
Countries included: India
Subject: Children of Bombay
Director: Alan Handel Productions
Date of film: Not Known
Length: 26 minutes
Availability: For Sale $225. Rental $55
URL: http://www.filmakers.com/indivs/Tapoori.htm
Info on Film: Tapoori is a visually stunning film, and a
powerful human story of survival. It is an
intimate and candid look at two street boys in
Bombay. Subra is fourteen years old and has been
living at the Victoria Railway Station for three
years. He survives through toughness, guile and
hard work, but since he is small he has to pay
off the older boys for protection. The film
follows Subra as he decides whether to stay on
the streets where he is lonely and vulnerable,
or return home to his village and family, where
in the past he had been beaten by his father.
Anwar is sixteen years old and has been living
on the streets of Bombay's red light district
since he lost both his parents when he was
eight. The other street boys are Anwar's family
now. They earn money by picking trash from the
streets and selling what they find at the
market. To escape their dreary life, they inhale
glue, they patronize the local prostitutes, and
visit the video parlours. While there are some
social workers that reach out to them, there is
little that can be done to improve their lives.
Name of film:
The Children We Sacrifice
Type: Documentary
Countries included: India, Sri Lanka, Canada and the United States
Subject: Child Incestouous Sexual Abuse
Director: Grace Poore
Date of film: 2000
Length: 61 minutes
Contact information: shaktivideo@aol.com
URL: http://www.shaktiproductions.net/tcws.html
Info on Film: This evocative, visually
powerful documentary is about incestuous sexual
abuse of the South Asian girl. By interweaving
survivors' narratives, including the producer's
own story, with interviews with South Asian
mental health professionals, and with
statistical information, as well as poetry and
art, "The Children We Sacrifice"
discloses the many layers of a subject
traditionally shrouded in secrecy. Insights into
the far-reaching psychological, social and
cultural consequences of incest are accompanied
by thoughtful assessments of strategies that
have helped adult women cope with childhood
trauma. The video also analyzes social and
cultural resistance in South Asia and the
Diaspora to dealing with incest's causes and its
effects on its victims. This personal and
collective letter from South Asian incest
survivors and their advocates is both a
validation of their struggle and a compelling
charge to protect future generations of children
better.
Name of Film:
Tin Girls
Type: Documentary
Countries included: Nepal, India
Subject: Slavery in Prostitution
Director: Miguel Bardem, for Canal Plus, Spain
Date of film: 2003
Length: 55 minutes
URL: http://innerlens.com/masalaproject/tingirlsdoc.htmlI
Name of film:
Trafficking, Migration and HIV AIDS
Type: Documentary
Countries included: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
Subject: Migration, trafficking & HIV/AIDS
Director: Abha Dayal and Puneet Tandon
Date of film: 1999
Contact information: partha@drik.net,
abhadayal@hotmail.com
Tel, home: (91-11) 225-0193, 225-8812, Tel/fax:
271-9719. 98103-43340, -32103. A-6 Navbharat Times Apts., Mayur
Vihar, Phase 1, New Delhi. swativis@nde.vsnl.net.in
URL: http://www.hivnet.ch:8000/asia/bangladesh/view?69
Info on Film: In the South Asian scenario
HIV/AIDS presents one of the major development
challenges especially in the face of the extent
of trafficking and migration across the borders
which are exceptionally porous in India-Nepal
and India -Bangladesh. Migration, trafficking
and HIV/AIDS are symptoms of poverty and social
inequity, gender inequality and human rights
violations.
Name of Film:
Under the Tin Roof
Type: Documentary
Countries included: Nepal
Subject: Trafficking
Director: Developed/Written, Designed by Center for Women
and Development (CWD)
Contact information: Post Box 8205, Kathmandu, Nepal, Tel: +977 1
429302
Email: cwd@mail.com.np
Info on Film: This docu-drama is a
typical story about trafficking. The deprived,
drudgery and hardship in a girl's life is shown
as a reason. It is a short story in the village
of Sindhupalchowk. She is lured by a pimp
with false promises of a better life in the
city. The girl is trafficked across the borders
and subjected to violence and drug for forcible
induction to prostitution. Life in the brothel
is shown as one marked by daily physical abuse,
beating, gang rape and psychological torment.
The physical health of the brothel girls are
ignored, and they become susceptible to
infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other
STDs. Once they are physically unfit, they are
deported back to their home town. Once home the
girls is totally isolated by her own family and
her last day are lonely and torturous.
back
to Resources
