SFFS Screen Presents: Exmined Life March 6, 2009

Astra Taylor’s Examined Life (Canada, 2008), an engaging encounter with some of the world’s most formidable thinkers including Bay Area residents Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor, will open on SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas on Friday, March 6, 2009.

Plato tells us, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” The eight contemporary philosophers profiled in Astra Taylor’s lively and engaging documentary Examined Life no doubt would agree. Whether it’s Cornel West speaking in brain-bending sentences from the backseat of a car (“I’m a jazz man in the world of ideas”) or Kwame Anthony Appiah talking about what it means to be a global citizen, these intellectuals offer a wide-ranging set of concerns to ponder. Peter Singer, who focuses on applied ethics, believes that we have the moral obligation to really think about how we spend our money, while Michael Hardt tries to imagine what modern revolution in the United States might look like. Taylor winningly transcends the typical talking heads portrait by bringing her subjects out into the world—on walks, in rowboats or right beside a garbage dump—where their engagement with present-day existence can be seen, heard and felt. Bay Area residents will particularly appreciate the stroll taken by UC Berkeley professor Judith Butler and disabled artist and writer Sunaura “Sunny” Taylor as they interrogate the very notion of taking a walk on the streets and in the shops of San Francisco’s colorful Mission District. Taylor’s earlier film Zizek! (2005) profiles Slavoj Žižek, the Slovenian philosopher known as the “Elvis of cultural theory.” Photographed by John M. Tran. With Cornel West, Slavoj Žižek, Judith Butler. 88 min. Distributed by Zeitgeist Films.

Director Astra Taylor and subject Sunaura Taylor are expected to answer audience questions following the evening shows on Friday and Saturday, March 6 and 7.

At the Sundance Kabuki all seats are reserved and an amenities fee is in effect for most shows. Tickets are available through the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas box office, at kiosks in the lobby and online at sundancecinemas.com/kabuki with print-at-home capability. San Francisco Film Society members receive discounted admission to SFFS Screen programs at the box office only (not online or at the lobby kiosks).

For full, complete and up-to-date information on all SFFS Screen programming, including ticket purchasing, visit www.sffs.org. Information and tickets are also available at www.sundancecinemas.com.

Official Website: http://www.sffs.org