Transcendental Media Blog

"...to agitate the sleep of mankind."

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:43:00 +0000

When I adopted those words from Freud as my company's vision statement years ago, I could have never guessed what incredible adventures it would lead to down the road. But as rewarding and fruitful as the work has been, the need for an awakening has gone unchanged.

In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, many of us experienced an awakening of sorts - our distractions became not so distracting all of a sudden, and our problems became small in comparison. The media was flooded with stories of the earthquake's devastation and the dire need of aid to Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. I felt as though everyone around me struggled with what to do about our inaction. Many of us chose to donate and others even joined the relief effort. In fact, our very own Greg Bennick and a group of beautifully courageous individuals are en route to deliver food and medical supplies. Fans of "The Philosopher Kings" even aided through donations in Princeton custodian/Philosopher King Josue Lajeunesse's efforts to bring his daughter Danielle, who had been left wandering the streets of Port au Prince for more than a week after the earthquake, back home to the U.S.

But now the tweets, Facebook posts, and conversations are thinning, and our attempts to rally the troops are growing more desperate. The world is falling back into its sleep state while the need for aid is still just as necessary today as it was on January 12.

In our effort to encourage us all to resist falling back to "sleep", we've devoted our most recent newsletter to providing suggestions on how we can all take action and continue helping the people of Haiti and in other parts of the world. In addition, you'll find more updates on Josue, his daughter's return back to the U.S., and Greg's trip to Haiti.

Best,
Patrick,

Nov/Dec 2009 Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:31:00 +0000

Read about all the latest happenings with TM in the Nov/Dec 2009 edition of Transcendental Media's newsletter! To sign-up go to philosopherkingsmovie.com. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Philosopher Kings Coming to a City Near You

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:43:00 +0000

Fresh off two sold-out screenings at the AFI/Discovery Channel Silverdocs Film Festival, The Philosopher Kings will begin a series of screenings in theaters, universities, film festivals, museums, and churches throughout the U.S. beginning August 26th, 2009 at Cornell University. To see a preliminary list of tour dates, visit The Philosopher Kings Screenings Calendar. If your organization is interested in possibly sponsoring or hosting a screening of the film, please fill out our online Screening Request form.

The Philosopher Kings among most popular films @ Silverdocs!

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:52:00 +0000

The Philosopher Kings was among the most talked about films at this year's Silverdocs Film Festival resulting in a sold out world premiere, which took place on June 18, and another sold out encore screening in AFI Silver's 430-seat theatre, which took place on Sunday, June 21. The Philosopher Kings was so popular among festival-goers that it was one of seven films, from the 122 screened at the festival, chosen for the “Back by Popular Demand” screenings on Monday, June 22.

“Considering Silverdocs is the biggest documentary festival in the U.S. and the caliber of the films at the festival – some of them by Oscar nominated directors – we couldn’t be happier,” explains Director Patrick Shen. “To see the audience react so enthusiastically and to connect so strongly with the characters to the point that it left some in tears, is such a satisfying thing to experience for a filmmaker.”

Visit the film's Facebook page to see photos from the event.

The Philosopher Kings set to premiere @ Silverdocs in June!

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:34:00 +0000

Out of 2,000 submissions from all over the world, The Philosopher Kings has been chosen as an official selection of the 2009 AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival which takes place in the Washington D.C. area next month. The film, which will premiere on Thursday, June 18th @ 7:15pm, will be part of the Sterling US Feature Competition and will also have a repeat screening on Sunday, June 21 @ 1:15pm. For more information follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

A Look Behind the Scenes @ TM

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:10:00 +0000

Become a fan of Transcendental Media on Facebook and see exclusive Facebook pics and videos of what goes on behind the scenes at TM.

The Philosopher Kings in Final Stages of Post-Production

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:27:00 +0000

We're hard at work finishing up the final cut of The Philosopher Kings and we expect it to be complete by March sometime. After that, it's off to our composer Nathan Matthew David and then finally off to our sound designer. We hope to be premiering the film at a major film festival by mid to late 2009 and continuing a run in the festival circuit throughout the remainder of the year. Of course, all screening information will be posted on The Philosopher Kings website when that information becomes available. Thanks for your patience and keep checking back here for updates, sign up on the our mailing list, or become a fan of the movie on Facebook. You can all help us out by continuing to spread the word about the film, sharing/posting the trailer, and directing people to the website and/or the Facebook fan page. More soon!

The Philosopher Kings Has Been Chosen for IFW!

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:03:00 +0000

The Philosopher Kings has been selected among entries from all over the world to participate in this year's Independent Film Week (formerly IFP Market), the largest industry-only film market for independent films and documentaries. Previous independents that have been accepted into IFW, which takes place September 14-19, include the Coen Brother's Blood Simple (1984), Clerks (1994), Michael Moore's Roger & Me (1989), Born Into Brothels (2004) and Mad Hot Ballroom (2005); as well as our first documentary Flight From Death: The Quest for Immortality (2003). During IFW, we'll have the opportunity to screen segments of the film and meet with various distributors, broadcasters, financiers, and festival programmers to discuss the future of this film.

TM Launches Redesigned Website for The Philosopher Kings

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:13:00 +0000

Transcendental Media is pleased to announce the launch of The Philosopher Kings’ newly redesigned website. Our online home for the ground-breaking documentary that explores common wisdom from the perspective of extraordinary custodians working at prestigious universities, now hosts stunning new features and content. You’re invited to meet the compelling members of our cast who narrate their stories that are interwoven throughout the film in the “Meet the Cast” section. The Philosopher Kings trailer is available for download in multiple formats so it can be played on various devices and platforms, and we offer code to display the trailer on your site. Other downloads and media are now available, and more will be coming in the near future. So please pay our new site a visit, be sure to sign up for email updates to stay informed on the progress of the film, and keep coming back to check for new content and features.

TM's Award-winning Footage Available on Shutterstock.com

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 06:02:00 +0000

We've shot hundreds of hours of footage all over the globe and we've got so much footage we don't know what to do with it all. For the first time, we've opened up the TM archives to documentary filmmakers, TV networks, and multimedia producers around the world making our award-winning footage available exclusively on Shutterstock.com, one of the leading online stock footage sites. From cemeteries of the world to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, our crack team of interns are constantly scouring our archives for great images to offer. Visit footage.transcendfilms.com to check out our gallery.

The Legacy Project to be Distributed Worldwide

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 08:39:00 +0000

Transcendental Media has recently signed a deal with Octapixx Worldwide to distribute The Legacy Project, Transcendental Media's television documentary series which will examine regions of the world plagued by a history of violence and what lessons can be gleaned from that legacy as those communities look to the future. Octapixx, an international sales agent whose programs appear regularly on The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, PBS, and The National Geographic Channel, to name a few, will be presenting The Legacy Project to their network of broadcasters all over the world. The Legacy Project: Poland is currently in post-production while TLP: South Africa, which will begin filming in June 2008, is currently in pre-production.

TM is a movement

noreply@blogger.com (TM) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:02:00 +0000

For us at TM, making films is not just the business we are in, but an exercise in being human and interacting with the world. We like to think of Transcendental Media as a movement comprised of individuals, inside and outside the walls of TM, committed, above all else, to honest filmmaking and who have come together to impact people with their art. Since the release of Flight from Death two years ago, we experienced some incredible growth in which we found ourselves hiring more and more staff, and renting larger and larger office spaces. We were well on our way to becoming a mini media empire. However, what we would eventually learn, is that the danger of growth is becoming disillusioned by that growth and losing focus on what it is that one first sets out to do.

It's a common struggle of artists everywhere - the balance of art and commerce. After all, how can one pursue his passions with no regard to how he will feed himself, let alone his family? In fact, isn't the balance of pursuing one's passions and feeding oneself a struggle common among all people? The mechanics of culture as we know it would crumble if we all began to feed our creative impulses to live and think differently. The unknown is whether or not we and our culture would survive the crumbling. We say, let's find out.