A documentary by filmmakers in the Program in Bioethics and Film at Stanford has picked up a Sundance award.
Winner of the 2013 LightStay Sustainability Award from Hilton Worldwide and the Sundance Institute, "The Revolutionary Optimists" was co-directed and co-produced by Maren Grainger-Monsen, MD, and Nicole Newnham. The film chronicles the story of a lawyer-turned-social entrepreneur working to empower children living in Calcutta’s poorest neighborhood to become leaders in improving health and sanitation. It was chosen out of 1,500 feature-length documentaries and more than 5,000 short film entries submitted to the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program and Fund.
Grainger-Monsen is director of the film program at Stanford's Center for Biomedical Ethics. Both she and Newhnam are filmmakers-in-residence in the program. They will be presented with the $22,500 award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off tomorrow.
Previously: What I did this summer: Stanford medical student helps India nonprofit create community-health maps, A story of how children from Calcutta’s poorest neighborhood became leaders in improving health and Stanford filmmakers to debut documentary at TEDxChange
Photo by Maren Grainger-Monsen
