The Nashville Sierra SCENE (Student Coalition Empowering Nashville Environmentalists) student group will present the findings of a survey of Nashville environmental issues — toxins and disease, carbon diversion and home energy savings, and economic development and transportation — following the Saturday, May 18 Community Cinema screening of “The Revolutionary Optimists” at Nashville Public Library. The students, from both public and private high schools, used Map Your World, a tool/project affiliated with the film that is being developed at Stanford University. The Nashville Sierra SCENE students are a pilot group.
“The Revolutionary Optimists,” a film by Maren Grainger-Monsen and Nicole Newnham, follows Amlan Ganguly as he empowers children to become activists and educators, with powerful results. Using street theater, puppetry, and dance as their weapons, the children in Calcutta’s slums have cut their neighborhoods’ malaria and diarrhea rates in half, and turned former garbage dumps into playing fields. Now, pushing at the limits of optimism, Amlan is attempting to take his work into the brickfields outside Calcutta, where spend their days making and carrying bricks using methods unchanged by centuries.
“The Revolutionary Optimists” proposes a workable solution to intractable problems associated with poverty, including preventable diseases and ineffectual governance. Ganguly’s story suggests that education and child empowerment are crucial keys to lifting entire societies out of hopelessness.
“Inspiring…a vital snapshot of developing world struggles and possibilities” -The Los Angeles Times  Â
“Critic’s pick!” “People could learn a lot from these little activists” -The Washington PostÂ
“Three and a half stars” “Hope bubbles through the film…a tribute to the power of optimism” – The Seattle Times, Moira Macdonald Â
The screening begins with a catered reception at 2:30 p.m., followed by the screening at 3:00. The Nashville Public Library is located at 615 Church Street, Nashville, Tennessee, 37219.
Community Cinema provides access for all. For accessibility or accommodation requests, please contact Allison Inman by Thursday, May 16, at allison_inman@itvs.org or 615-585-8321.
Presented by ITVS, Nashville Public Television, Nashville Public Library, Nashville Film Festival, Hands On Nashville, The Sierra Club of Middle Tennessee, and Sierra SCENE (Student Coalition Empowering Nashville Environmentalists).
Watch Coming to Independent Lens: The Revolutionary Optimists on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.
Wilson’s research project, which involves testing and comparing soil samples from the DuPont area and Bethel Church of Christ in Joelton, will be on display at the December 17, 2:00 p.m. ITVS Community Cinema Nashville screening at the downtown Nashville Public Library of 
