Beyond the Classroom presents "The Revolutionary Optimists" on Monday, November 17th at 7:00 pm!

Monday, November 17, 7:00-9:00 pm 1102 South Campus Commons, Building 1 https://www.facebook.com/events/717440305005650/ The Revolutionary Optimists is a character-driven and highly cinematic documentary that reveals the work of Bengali visionary, Amlan Ganguly. Ganguly, a hot-headed former attorney, does not rescue slum children -- he empowers them to become change agents, battling poverty and transforming their neighborhoods with dramatic results. Filmed over the course of three and a half years, The Revolutionary Optimists follows Amlan and three of the children he works with on an intimate journey through adolescence, as they challenge the idea that marginalization is written into their destiny.  Using theater, dance, and data, the children have cut malaria rates and turned garbage dumps into playing fields. Now, Amlan and the children have set their sights on goals that push at the limits of optimism: trying bring clean water to a slum long denied it, and bringing education and hope to the migrant children working in brick fields on the outskirts of the booming city! ·       ·        If you want to start any kind of change, start it with the children," says Alman Ganguly, a former lawyer, community leader, and life-altering mentor to many of the children of India's slums. These are kids who lack access to clean drinking water, or work grueling days in brickfields..." - SF Weekly ·         • "...children in the slums of Calcutta become community activists." - Mother Jones This seminar series on “Ensuring a World Fit for Children? Rethinking Our Civic Responsibilities” is sponsored by Beyond the Classroom Living & Learning Program, Office of Undergraduate Studies, at the University of Maryland, College Park WWW.BeyondTheClassroom.umd.edu

Beyond the Classroom Living & Learning Program | Office of Undergraduate Studies E-mail: btcinfo@umd.edu | Tel.: 301-314-6621 | Office: South Campus Commons 1102