When I describe my new film, Examined Life, to people I am almost universally greeted with one response:  So the philosophers are all dead, right?

It?s telling that people assume my subjects are deceased.  This means they find philosophy to be a rather antiquated activity, to put it mildly.  I must be making some sort of historic documentary, an exploration of a quaint pursuit no one has time for any more.  (In  contrast, and following Isaiah Berlin, I tend to think that anytime adults persist in asking unanswerable, childish questions ? Why are we here?  What is good? What is evil?  Does any of this mean anything at all? ? we?re doing philosophy on some level.)

In any case, I?m aware of philosophy?s rather musty reputation, and I suppose if nothing else Examined Life will prove there are, in fact, philosophers out there with a pulse.  I was fortunate to work with a diverse and vibrant group of thinkers on this project including Cornel West, Avital Ronell, Peter Singer, (pictured above right) Kwame Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, Michael Hardt, Judith Butler, and Slavoj Zizek (as the subject of my previous documentary, Zizek!, which played the festival in 2005, and the star of Sophie Fienne?s awesome Pervert?s Guide to Cinema, which played in 2006, he should be a familiar face 
to TIFF audiences).

For the film, I invited each of these thinkers to take a walk.  It?s a simple conceit, I know, but one that has numerous implications. Historically it speaks to philosophy?s peripatetic origins and to the fact that many great philosophers were enthusiastic wanderers. Cinematically the walk provides an opportunity for movement, gesture, 
and variation of scene (on this front I was partially inspired by the incredible sequence in the documentary Bright Leaves where director Ross McElwee is pushed around in a wheelchair by a rabid film theorist). The walk also illustrates my intention of taking philosophy out of the ivory tower and ?into the streets.? I wanted my subjects to talk  about their ideas in a way that was free of jargon and directly relatable to the viewer's experience, so an academic office didn?t seem like the right site for such conversations.

I also didn?t want to totally be in control.  Any art-maker knows magic happens more often by accident than design, thus another benefit of being out in the open was the emergence of obstacles and encounters that provoked reactions and insights I couldn?t have planned.  Unfortunately some of the most memorable impromptu moments didn?t make the final cut, like when we were heckled by irate, obscenity-shouting gutter punks in Tompkins Square Park (unflappable, Avital Ronell wryly remarked to the camera, ?we have a great audience!?) or when Peter Singer was cross-examined about his theories by an inquisitive security guard on Fifth Avenue.

For now, I?ll just say it's a huge honor to be returning to TIFF and leave you with one of my favorite walking philosopher quotes:

  ?Above all, do not lose your desire to walk.  Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.? - Soren Kierkegaard.