Transcendental Media is an award-winning independent film company founded by filmmaker Patrick Shen. Working at the intersection of documentary, contemplative cinema, and cinematic nonfiction, TM crafts deeply experiential films that invite audiences to step back from the acceleration of modern life and encounter the physical world—and their own inner lives—with renewed attention.
Since 2005, Transcendental Media has produced an acclaimed body of work exploring mortality, wisdom, silence, perception, and our relationship to time. Its films include Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality, The Philosopher Kings, In Pursuit of Silence, The Dawn Chorus, and Day of a Stranger. The company’s forthcoming feature, Illuminations, continues this inquiry through an intimate contemplative portrait of avant-garde filmmakers Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler.
Guided by the founding aspiration “to agitate the sleep of mankind,” Transcendental Media approaches cinema not simply as a vehicle for information or storytelling, but as a means of awakening perception.
Patrick Shen
Patrick Shen is an award-winning filmmaker and the founder of Transcendental Media who specializes in contemplative nonfiction films. Driven by a mission to “agitate the sleep of mankind,” his work utilizes cinematic language to explore existential themes like mortality, wisdom, and the nature of silence. Over a career spanning more than 20 years, he has earned 24 awards and 12 nominations.
His feature debut, Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality, won seven Best Documentary awards, including the Grand Prize at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. His follow-up, The Philosopher Kings, was nominated at AFI Silverdocs and honored with Camden’s Emerging Cinematic Vision Award. Additionally, the acclaimed In Pursuit of Silence—which garnered Planet in Focus’s Best International Feature and a Cinema Eye Honors nomination—saw a global theatrical release in over 150 theaters across nine countries. Building on this contemplative trajectory, his upcoming films include In Praise of Shadows, a visual portrait of contemporary life explored through the interplay of light and shadow, and As Slow As Possible, a monumental, multi-generational project that explores human, geological, and cosmic time over six centuries. Early in his career, his work as second unit director on the Emmy-nominated We Served With Pride earned him an invitation to meet President Bill Clinton at the White House.
Shen has presented his work at hundreds of prestigious venues, including SXSW, CPH:DOX, the Smithsonian, Harvard, and Princeton. As an educator, he serves as an adjunct professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and is a lead instructor for Sundance Collab. Additionally, he has served as a film envoy for the U.S. State Department since 2013, conducting international filmmaking workshops through the American Film Showcase.