Films Featuring Our Grantee Partners
or Relevant Issues

 

Born into Brothels (India)

Born into Brothels, by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005. A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, Born into Brothels is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red-light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana Briski, a New York–based photographer, gives each of the children a camera and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes.

Former GFC grantee partner Kids with Cameras

Founded after the release of Born into Brothels, Kids with Cameras teaches the art of photography to children around the world to empower them and build their self-esteem, as well as to support their continuing education through the sale of their photographs.

 

Favela Rising (Brazil)

Favela Rising, by Matt Mochary and Jeff Zimbalist, documents a man and a movement, a city divided and a favela (Brazilian squatter settlement) united. Haunted by the murders of his family and many of his friends, Anderson Sá is a former drug trafficker who becomes a social revolutionary in Rio de Janeiro’s most feared slum. Through hip-hop music, the rhythms of the street, and Afro-Brazilian dance, he rallies his community to counteract the violent oppression enforced by teenage drug armies and sustained by corrupt police. At the dawn of liberation, just as collective mobility is overcoming all odds and Anderson’s grassroots Afro Reggae movement is at the height of its success, a tragic accident threatens to silence the movement forever.

Former GFC grantee partner Grupo Cultural Afro Reggae

Grupo Cultural Afro Reggae (GCAR) offers educational and cultural programs for at-risk youth in the most impoverished areas of Rio de Janeiro and works to strengthen public awareness of Afro-Brazilian culture. GCAR’s programs incorporate music, dance, capoeira and other sports, environmental stewardship, and other activities that expand participants’ understanding of Afro-Brazilian cultural traditions and broaden their future opportunities. This cultural and artistic training reengages youth with society and helps young people escape all-too-prevalent involvement with drug trafficking and other forms of underemployment. GCAR students perform throughout Rio de Janeiro.

 

The Devil’s Miner (Bolivia)

The Devil’s Miner, by Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani and distributed by First Run Features, is the story of fourteen-year-old Basilio Vargas and his twelve-year-old brother Bernardino as they work in the Bolivian silver mines of Cerro Rico, which date back to the sixteenth century. Raised without a father and living in poverty with their mother on the slopes of the mine, the boys assume many adult responsibilities. They must work to afford the clothing and supplies vital to their education—for without an education, the brothers have no chance to escape their destiny in the silver mines.

GFC grantee partner Centro para el Desarollo Regional

Located in the mining town of Cerro Rico de Potosí, Centro para el Desarollo Regional (CDR) promotes sustainable development, economic opportunity, and social justice, particularly for vulnerable women and children. CDR’s Child Miners project focuses on preventing and reducing child labor in the mines by providing viable economic and educational alternatives. The project offers school scholarships, tutoring support, vocational training, and adequate nutrition for the children. CDR also educates and supports the children’s parents through a Parents’ Council that meets regularly to discuss the importance of education as well as specific issues and concerns related to the program.

Click here to see GFC's grantee partners listed by year.