Watch the Trailer
This restored one-page version keeps the old campaign-site feeling: bold announcement, film summary, character focus, action campaign, screening information, and press-ready details.
Add your YouTube/Vimeo embed here if you have the original trailer URL.
About the Film
The Revolutionary Optimists is a powerful, inspiring look at children living in Kolkata’s slums — not as victims, but as innovators and agents of change.
Filmed over several years, the documentary follows Amlan Ganguly, a lawyer-turned-social entrepreneur and founder of Prayasam, as he works with young people to improve health, sanitation, education, and civic participation in their own neighborhoods.
Through mapping, organizing, dance, theater, vaccination drives, and local advocacy, the children in the film show how public health and community power can begin with the people most affected.
Meet the Optimists
Map Your World
Inspired by the youth in the film, Map Your World grew into a mobile-to-online data and storytelling platform designed to help young people identify problems, collect evidence, and advocate for healthier communities.
From clean water and sanitation to food access and public safety, the idea is simple: when young people can map their world, they can make a case for changing it.
Screenings & Action
Use the film to spark conversations about children’s rights, public health, community organizing, girls’ empowerment, education, clean water, and youth-led change.
Press Notes
The film has been associated with Sundance, Independent Lens, Women and Girls Lead, UNICEF, USAID, TEDxChange, Skoll World Forum, and outreach conversations around youth-led public health change.
Directors: Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen. Featured: Amlan Ganguly, Salim Sheikh, Shikha Patro, Kajal Kahar, Priyanka Mandal, and the children of Prayasam.