Henry Schwarz Co-Directs and Presents Film: Please Don't Beat Me, Sir!

Posted in Announcement

Henry Schwarz, English Professor and member of the India Initiative Faculty Committee, in conjunction with the Georgetown India Initiative, will host a screening of Please Don’t Beat Me, Sir!, for which he served as a co-director. The documentary is about the Chhara youth of Ahmedabad in Western India and will be shown on Thursday, October 6th at 7pm in the New South Film Screening Room. 

This event is hosted by the Department of English and sponsored by an India Initiative Seed Grant. 

Great work, Henry! 

Please Don’t Beat Me, Sir! 
Synopsis: “Over sixty million Indians belong to communities imprisoned by the British as “criminals by birth.” The Chhara of Ahmedabad are one of 198 such “Criminal Tribes.” Declaring that they are born actors, not born criminals, a group of Chhara youth have turned to street theater in their fight against police brutality, corruption, and the stigma of criminality – a stigma internalized by their own community. Please Don’t Beat Me, Sir! follows the lives of these young actors and their families as they take their struggle to the streets, hoping their plays will spark a revolution.”