Press Reviews

“A supremely designed, fluent and delicately shot film, The Philosopher Kings is everything that you don’t expect, and nothing that you do.” Read more

—David Day, The Weekly Dig

“The visuals are crisp, and Shen’s seamless editing creates conversation between his various subjects, as the spoken musing of one plays over the images of another. Kings arcs hard toward its uplifting ending, but it also completely earns it.” Read more

—Ernest Hardy, LA Weekly

“Moved me to tears…” Read more

—Jay Youngdahl, East Bay Express

“…terrific documentary about janitors – yes janitors.” Read more

—G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle

“Patrick Shen and Greg Bennick do a wonderful job…” Read more

—In These Times

“The Philosopher Kings is a compelling film…” Read more

—Cornell Daily Sun

“The Philosopher Kings is a must-see, both for the quality of the filmmaking and its emotional depth. A Chinese proverb quoted in the movie asserts that a conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study. There are eight wise human beings featured in this documentary. You do the math.”

—Takoma/Silver Spring Voice

“With an engaging style and an eye for balancing drama, humor and despair, Shen transforms these personal mini-narratives into a larger conversation about the job of being human.”

—AFI-Discovery Channel’s Silverdocs Documentary Festival

“As someone who has never let school interfere with my education, I found The Philosopher Kings a moving, compelling piece of work by brilliantly talented filmmaker Patrick Shen”

—Michael Levine, Best-selling author and media expert

“It’s sensitively shot, and accompanied by a lovely and subtly evocative score from Nathan Matthew David, overall a loving look into the lives of people we shouldn’t need convincing can be just as interesting and insightful as anyone else.”

—Ian Buckwalter, DCist

“The Philosopher Kings is a deeply human exploration of the people we never see. Look out for it, it’s brilliant.”

—Jason Silva, Host/Producer-Current TV