

The Shadow Scholars
When Oxford Professor Patricia Kingori travels to Kenya, she uncovers the murky, multi-billion global underworld of essay-writing. Thousands of young and highly educated Kenyans – overqualified and chronically underemployed – have found lucrative work writing essays for students around the globe who are able and willing to pay for them. It’s a complex portrait of an issue that undermines the foundations of a pillar of humanity: education.
TMDB
8.3/10
3 votes
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- Status
- Released
- Budget
- —
- Box office
- —
- Language
- EN
Behind the camera
Director
Produced in
United Kingdom
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Videos
Release dates
United KingdomGB
- PremiereLondon Film Festival17 Oct 2024
AustraliaAU
- PremiereSydney Film Festival13 Jun 2025
South AfricaZA
- PremiereJoburg Film Festival14 Mar 2025
- PremiereEncounters International Documentary Festival25 Jun 2025
Frequently asked questions
The Shadow Scholars was released on 17 October 2024.
Audience reviews
1- C6/10
CinemaSerf
1/19/2026
Professor Patrician Kingori is a senior professor of sociology at the University of Oxford, and in this overlong documentary she investigates the growing use of surrogate brains to write coursework for those too lazy\busy or just plain unskilled to do it for themselves. Her study focuses on Kenya. A nation where there are many academically qualified individuals who cannot find work, and so who are somewhat entreprene…
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