Born into Brothels co-filmmakers Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski have been busy since their Sundance Festival debut last year.

One of the first steps in the amazing journey for co-filmmakers Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski began last year in Utah at a table inside Park City's Marriot Hotel, headquarters and home to Sundance Festival staff and numerous publicists hired to promote the festival's many films.

Kauffman and Zana Briski had their own film to promote, Born into Brothels, a spirited documentary about the children of Calcutta's red-light district that celebrates charity and making a difference in the world.

Until a TV crew asked us to move, Briski began our conversation by recounting her first trip to India in 1995 at the age of 30. Kauffman, Briski and I shifted to a table closer to the hotel pool and our talk re-started. Briski, now 37, a longtime photographer and first-time director, summed up Born into Brothels like this: She visited Calcutta's red-light district and chose to stay so she could reach out to the prostitutes and their families, especially the children.

Her visit created her nonprofit arts group, Kids With Cameras, which taught the children how to take photographs in the hope of inspiring them to better lives.

"She (Briski) had no idea and had never made a film before, but she knew I had been an editor and wanted to make movies," Kauffman said. "She sent footage back to critique. I saw the footage and I loved it, and I was on my way to Calcutta."

The film introduces audiences to Avigit, a 12-year-old boy who wins prizes for his photographs and the chance to travel to Amsterdam on behalf of the World Press Photo Foundation. There is 10-year-old Kochi, a shy girl who embraces Briski's photography classes. Shanti, a 11-year-old girl, even helped film a scene for the film. These children, Briski said, are what bring the film its sparkle of hope.

"We did not want this to be another depressing documentary," she said. "We wanted this to be true to the experience of living in the brothels, and my experience was largely fun. These women are spirited, amazingly feisty and smart. I have so much respect for them."

Born into Brothels was one of the smaller films at Sundance last year, one without the media attention of Garden State or Napoleon Dynamite. Film festivals tend to be about corporate sponsorships, celebrities and deal making, but Born into Brothels, a film that's upbeat beyond expectations, celebrates charity and making a difference in the world.

The closing-night awards of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival offered the first of numerous climactic surprises -- an Audience Award for favorite documentary. It was proof of the growing interest in the documentary, a trend that would escalate throughout the year and beyond Kauffman and Briski's imagination. Over one year later, after praise and a run in art-house theaters nationwide (Born into Brothels opens Friday in Cincinnati), Kauffman and Briski accept the Oscar for Best Documentary, taking home the coveted prize during a year filled with public eye documentaries like Super Size Me and Fahrenheit 9/11.

"The whole year has been incredible with all these awards and raising $100,000 for the project," Kaufmann said, speaking in early March, from a gallery in Cleveland. "We plan to open a school in Calcutta, and we finally got a week to go back to Calcutta and visit the kids. That was one of the most important trips in my life, and I have been on many trips."

He speaks while hanging photos in preparation for the film's premiere and fund-raising event. Kauffman's life has been hectic since our first Sundance interview, but he remains bright and thankful. He knows that he and Briski are on an important mission. Their hope was for Born into Brothels to have a life outside the festival and be seen by as many people as possible. All of that has happened.

"We are so busy with the foundation and the work we are doing we don't even have time to ponder about winning the Oscar," Kaufmann says. "For us, the Oscar has been great. But it's going to help the kids. The Oscar is going to help us help the kids."

Born into Brothels is a political film focused on the impoverished prostitutes and their children, but Kauffman and Briski have become as much about the film as the children, and they have experienced their own journey.

People they have met at Sundance, including the woman sponsoring the Cleveland photo exhibition, have joined their cause. Their army of supporters continues to grow. For the first time, Kids with Cameras has paid staff.

Kauffman and Briski were a couple when Born into Brothels began filming but separated after the film's completion. Kaufmann says they remain close, although it's been difficult. He originally had hopes to pursue other film projects, but Born into Brothels has taken all his time and energy for the past year.

There are no regrets. He too has become devoted to the mission in the film.

"It's been crazy," Kauffman says. "Born into Brothels is a sociopolitical film, but it has also become a personal journey."

The children continue to play an important part, but Briski and Kauffman have also joined the family. ©