Films

THE PHILOSOPHER KINGS is a documentary film about the kind of wisdom that gets you through the day – the wisdom that comes from surviving hard times, lost loves, shattered dreams, and bad choices. The film goes deep into the most well-respected and prestigious universities to seek wisdom from the people who see it all and have been through it all – the janitors.

In his quest to define the ideal life, Socrates would ask his fellow citizens, "What is the good life?" In North America, more than fifteen hundred years later, a third of the population is clinically depressed, the suicide rate is at an all-time high, and kids are shooting their classmates. Adding insult to injury, much of this destruction and misdirection is caused by our best-educated and most "qualified" citizens. What is the real answer to Socrates' age-old question "What is the good life?" and is anyone even asking anymore?

Official Selection Silverdocs 2009
Official Selection San Francisco International Documentary Festival 2009

Director: Patrick Shen
Executive Producer: C.S. Hsueh, Haily Hsueh, Paul Kim, Patrick Pai 
Producer: Patrick Shen, Greg Bennick
Screenwriter: Patrick Shen
Cinematographer: Patrick Shen, Patrick Pai
Editor: Patrick Shen
Cast: Josue Lajeunesse, Corby Baker, Luis Cardenas
Music:

PRECEDED BY SHORT FILM

Between Dreams
Finland/France/Russian Federation, 2009, 11 MIN. DIRECTOR Iris Olsson
Russian with English subtitles
A train heads out of a rundown station; passengers in the third-class sleeping car fall in and out of wakefulness. As the train makes its way across the barren Trans-Siberian landscape, incorporeal voices describe dreams, both hopeful and haunting.

This film has been rated: PG