An interview with documentary filmmaker Astra Taylor

Further to being a celebrated writer for Salon and Adbusters (jealous already?), Astra Taylor is a young woman carving a very specific niche for herself; films on philosophy.

Sound boring? In her own words Taylor admits that “Quite afraid or dreading” are terms used upon hearing about a documentary on philosophy but the actual audience response following a screening is quite different. Considering she’s back at TIFF for round two, there’s obviously a thirst for this genre. Whether consumption is exclusively reserved for the critical thinking academic audience is debatable.

In 2005 Taylor’s film Zizek screened at TIFF, a documentary in which she followed pop culture philosopher Slavoj Zizek across the globe – hearing out his various theories on revolution, love, belief – among many. “EXAMINED LIFE” seemed like a natural progression but this time Taylor profiles eight highly recognized modern philosophical theorists and challenges audiences with new points of view on a variety of subject matter ranging from mass consumption to the meaning of meaning, the responsibilities of a global citizen, understanding garbage and so forth.

Heavily influenced by Rebecca Solnit’s book about walking and thinking – WANDERLUST, and seeing how psycho-geography is so hot right now (didn’t you know?), Taylor wanted to explore this walking-talking-thinking sub culture on film.

Unlike most little girls reading Anne of Green Gables, Taylor was diving into texts by Peter Singer at age twelve; one of the eight intelligent walking-heads (Ha ha!) in Examined Life.

Why should philosophy be reserved for students in the confines of a drab classroom? Her intent was to create a film that engaged people, like you and me, who are interested, but far from experts. We can get a taste of what philosophy is all about without having to pick up a dictionary to decode jargon.

A question that could lead to never-ending answers, Taylor responds succinctly when I ask what philosophy means to her.



”Questioning common sense. It’s a process of working through our own assumptions and conceptions.”

Smart, humble and endlessly curious Taylor has succeeded in making a philosophical film that is insightful, buoyant but not pretentious.

EXAMINED LIFE is not intended to bring systematic meaning to our life, and Taylor is weary of those who claim to have all the answers, but with such a variety of thinkers questioning and asserting opinions, the educated mind is bound to leave with some interesting questions of its own.

That is, if we take a minute to peel ourselves away from going ga-ga over celebrities, TIFF is hardly reserved for thinking / arty films. Who’s coming? Where will they be? OMG, OMGeeeeee! I ask Taylor what her thoughts are on our current pop culture that gravitates towards celebrities with such inane enthusiasm:



”It’s a strange thing. People gravitate because they find pleasure, and enjoyment. Philosophy has certain pleasure too, it’s not just intellectual enrichment, but can be entertainment too.”

Entertainment for a few sophisticated minds, engaging for many, valuable for all.

JM