A LIFE IN CHAINS
A TRUE STORY, A TALE OF VIOLENCE, HUMAN TRAFFIC, SOCIAL STIGMA.
"A Life In Chains" a video documentary on human trafficking and prostitution in Bangladesh.
At the end of August 2011 I travel to the small town of Tangail in order to reach the Kandapara Brothel. I get off the bus nearby a crowded and noisy bazaar where Mr. Lockman, my contact and guide in town, is waiting for me. We catch a rickshaw to reach the city center.
The red-light district is right behind a Mosque and 200 meters away from the local police station. It's Ramadan and the two streets running along the brothel are almost empty. Once the rickshaw puller has been paid we enter a narrow alley leading into the brothel where more than 850 Sex Workers live under slavery and in poor higyenic conditions.
I spend the next days interviewing girls and women living and working at the Kandapara Brothel with the idea of coming back the next year to shoot a "A Life In Chains" a video documentary on human trafficking and prostitution in Bangladesh.
In February 2012 I go back to the brothel and I spend one month interviewing Sex Workers and key people of the red light district. In September of the same year I start filming.
The result is a large collection of shocking testimonies of violence, juvenile prostitution and, as a consequence, social stigmatization. Girls born into the brothel are destined to become sex workers, while boys become pimps or drug dealers. Those women who somehow manage to get out of the brothel end up being rejected by society and are unable to rebuild their lives. Subsequently, they are left with no options but to start working as prostitutes again.
On July 12th 2014, a group of armed men, backed by the local government, went to the 200 year old Kandapara Brothel with drums of petrol and threatened to set the place on fire. That red-light district was demolished and more than 900 prostitutes were forced to flee. Hundreds have gone to other brothels around the country but many have stayed and continued to work in Tangail where they live under constant threat from local residents.
Based on my investigative report the movie is directed by Me and Federica Vairani. The movie focuses on victims' stories, their struggle to survive and their relationship with Bangladesh society. The film draws attention to the difficult situations these women must deal on a daily basis and who have become trapped in a vicious cycle of violence and prostitution.
