Mondovisioni. I documentari di Internazionale

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THE PLOT

Patricia Kingori is the youngest black professor in the 925-year history of the University of Oxford. Intrigued by the secret, multi-billion dollar industry of fake academic essays, she enters the world of "shadow scholars": it is estimated that there are at least 40,000 highly educated and underemployed Kenyans making ends meet by producing essays and articles for students around the world. Among them is Mercy, a single mother, who works tirelessly to support her daughter by writing thousands of words every night, helping students from wealthy countries graduate and find profitable jobs. Meanwhile, in the United States, a desperate student sells her photos online to afford a textbook and achieve a passing grade in exams. However, along with the demand, tensions are also rising, with threats of scrutiny and penalties in the UK and Australia, and the rise of competition from artificial intelligence. In this scenario, as the global elite can pay for degrees they have not earned, and educated Kenyans struggle to find work outside this underground industry, Patricia questions what the true value of education is.

THE DIRECTOR

Eloise King is a queer director of Caribbean descent, born in London, who adopts an interdisciplinary approach to tell complex stories that bring marginalized perspectives to the forefront of dominant and popular culture. Her work examines institutional and cultural phenomena to highlight social contradictions and the resulting tensions of so-called “progress.” As a former global executive producer for VICE, she led a team that produced several internationally acclaimed documentaries across North and South America, Europe, and Asia. King has received the Logan Nonfiction Fellowship, Netflix's inaugural Director Fellowship, the Firelight Media Fellowship, and the TV and Film Charity John Brabourne Award. The project of Youts, her debut narrative feature as writer and director, was selected for the prestigious industry program at the BFI London Film Festival. The Shadow Scholars is her first documentary as a director.