''The Philosopher Kings'' is a 2009

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by

Patrick Shen Patrick Shen (born 1975) is an American writer and director and producer. Shen is the founder of Transcendental Media. Documentaries Shen directed the Emmy-nominated documentary ''We Served With Pride: The Chinese American Experience in WWII'', ...

, and produced by Greg Bennick, about custodial workers at major U.S. universities and their lives. Filming took place at

Cornish College of the Arts Cornish College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art college in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1914. History Cornish College of the Arts was founded in 1914 as the Cornish School of Music, by Nellie Cornish (1876–1956), a teacher of ...

;

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

; Duke University;

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

;

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, for the section about Josue Lajeunesse; the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

; and

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

. The film premiered at

Silverdocs The AFI Docs (formerly Silverdocs) documentary film festival is an American international film festival created by the American Film Institute and the Discovery Channel. It is held every year in Silver Spring, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Starte ...

in June 2009 and was shown at the SF DocFest

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

at The Roxie in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

in October 2009.DocFest 8 at the Roxie has Burning Man Film
Roger Rose, CineSource

External links

* *
''The Philosopher Kings'' at Silverdocs"Film Competes for Sterling Feature Award at Silverdocs"
(June 5, 2009 press release)
Jay Youngdahl's Review in ''East Bay Express'' (October 21, 2009)''Arts of War on the Web'' review

References

2009 films American documentary films Cleaning and maintenance occupations Universities and colleges in the United States 2009 documentary films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{2000s-documentary-film-stub