Global documentary sales, distribution and production company Dogwoof has unveiled the international trailer for Eloise King’s “The Shadow Scholars,” which will receive its North American premiere Thursday at the Tribeca Festival in the Spotlight strand.
The film is a co-production between Steve McQueen’s Lammas Park and White Teeth Films, and is executive produced by the U.K.’s Film4, Dogwoof and the BFI Doc Society.
“The Shadow Scholars” follows Patricia Kingori — Oxford University’s youngest woman and Black professor in its 925-year history — as she investigates the hidden, global, multi-billion-dollar “fake essay” industry. Her exploration leads to the young “shadow scholars” of Kenya: an estimated 40,000 highly educated, underemployed Kenyans who make ends meet by writing academic papers for students around the world.
As demand rises, so do the tensions — from impending crackdowns in the U.K. and Australia to the growing threat of AI — prompting Kingori to ask: if the world’s elite can pay for degrees they haven’t earned, while educated Kenyans are unable to find work outside this shadow industry, what is the true value of education?
The film is directed, written and produced by King for Whiteteeth, Anna Smith Tenser for Lammas Park, Bona Orakwue and Tabs Breese. It is executive produced by McQueen and Kingori. The other executive producers are Ben Coren, Sacha Mirzoeff and Ollie Madden for Film4, Anna Godas and Oli Harbottle for Dogwoof, and Shanida Scotland and Hannah Bush Bailey for BFI/ Doc Society.
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