TRANSCENDENT MAN Premieres at 2009 Tribeca Film Festival

Ptolemaic Productions and Therapy Studios Documentary about Futurist, Inventor,
Ray Kurzweil Makes World Premiere in Competition on April 25th

LOS ANGELES--(Business Wire)--
Filmmakers Barry and Felicia Ptolemy (Ptolemaic Productions) along with partners
(Therapy Studios) make their festival debut at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
(April 22-May 3, 2009) with TRANSCENDENT MAN, which makes its world premiere in
the World Documentary Feature Competition on April 25. No distributor is
attached at this time. See below for premiere screening details.

The compelling feature-length documentary film--a first for Director Barry
Ptolemy--chronicles the life and controversial ideas of luminary Ray Kurzweil.
For more than three decades, inventor, futurist, and NY Times best-selling
author Ray Kurzweil has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates
of the role of technology in our future.

In TRANSCENDENT MAN, Ptolemy follows Kurzweil around the globe as he presents
the daring arguments from his best-selling book, The Singularity is Near: When
Humans Transcend Biology. Kurzweil predicts that with the ever-accelerating rate
of technological change, humanity is fast approaching an era in which our
intelligence will become increasingly non-biological and trillions of times more
powerful than today. This will be the dawning of a new civilization that will
enable us to transcend our biological limitations. In Kurzweil`s post-biological
world, there will be no clear distinction between human and machine, real
reality and virtual reality. Human aging and illness will be reversed, world
hunger and poverty will be solved, and we will ultimately cure death.

"Kurzweil is the best person I know at predicting the future," according to Bill
Gates. "Kurzweil envisions a future in which information technologies have
advanced so far and fast that they enable humanity to transcend its biological
limitations-transforming our lives in ways we can`t yet imagine."

Ptolemy expertly explores the social and philosophical implications of these
profound changes and the potential threats they pose to human civilization in
dialogues with world leaders such as Colin Powell; technologists Hugo de Garis,
Peter Diamandis, Kevin Warwick, and Dean Kamen; journalists Kevin Kelly and Tom
Abate; and luminary Stevie Wonder. Kurzweil himself maintains a radically
optimistic view of the future course of human development, while acknowledging
new dangers. As such, TRANSCENDENT MAN offers a view of the coming age that is
both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a
genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.

"My ideas challenge people's most basic assumptions about life, death, and what
it means to be human," says Kurzweil. "Through many conversations, it became
clear to me that Barry Ptolemy had a deep understanding of these ideas and their
impact on every aspect of human life. I thought he could make a great movie and
it would appear that he has."

TRANSCENDENT MAN is an evocative film that not only brings to light Kurzweil`s
amazing vision of the future but also exposes the heart and soul of the man
behind the exponential curves. Given unprecedented access to every aspect of Ray
Kurzweil`s life for more than 24 months, the Ptolemys delve deep inside the mind
of this complex man and deliver a personal, uncompromising account of the man
behind the science and his surprisingly private motivations for this
transformative vision.

"I believe our film offers something many Hollywood films and documentaries lack
today: hope about our future," says producer Felicia Ptolemy. "Ray is describing
the technologies that we, the human race, have created as a tool we can use for
good, rather than the continual narrative that we are on a path to destroying
ourselves. We intend for this film to combat cynicism with the idea that we can
and will change the world for the better."

"When Barry first introduced us to Ray, we were blown away by the boldness of
his claims," says Executive Producer Joseph Disanto. "His concepts on our
evolution and the ability to live as long as we want evoke huge questions and
implications about how we understand ourselves. We are really excited about
helping further awareness of these topics."

TRANSCENDENT MAN is produced by Ptolemaic Productions in partnership with
Therapy Studios. The production team began principal photography in March 2007
and continued through February 2009. The Ptolemys traveled to more than 25
cities in five countries on an exhaustive two-year, nonstop production schedule,
filming in such cities as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, San
Francisco, Hartford, Manchester, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., London, Milan,
Sao Paulo and Hong Kong.

Award winning American composer Philip Glass contributes original theme music
that mirrors the depth and intensity of the film. Nominated for three Academy
Awards and three Golden Globes, Glass has created original scores for such
acclaimed movies as Notes on a Scandal, The Hours, and The Truman Show.

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL WORLD PREMIERE SCREENING

TRANSCENDENT MAN will premiereSaturday, April 25, 8:00 p.m. at the School of
Visual Arts, 333 West 23rd Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues), New York, NY
10011.

For more information, visit: www.tribecafilm.com/festival.

About Ray Kurzweil

Ray Kurzweil is one of the world`s leading inventors, and futurists, with a
twenty-year track record of accurate predictions. Called the "restless genius"
by The Wall Street Journal and "the ultimate thinking machine" by Forbes
magazine, Kurzweil was selected as one of the top entrepreneurs by Inc.
magazine, which described him as the "rightful heir to Thomas Edison." Inventor
of the first CCD flat bed scanner and many other firsts, Kurzweil is an inductee
in the National Inventors Hall of Fame and recipient of the National Medal of
Technology, the Lemelson-MIT Prize (the world`s largest for innovation), and 16
honorary doctorates and awards from three U.S. presidents. For more information:
www.KurzweilAI.net.

About Ptolemaic Productions: Ptolemaic Productions was founded by Barry and
Felicia Ptolemy in Los Angeles, CA in 2006. This is the company`s first film.
For more information:

www.TranscendentMan.com.

About Therapy Studios: Therapy Studios is an award-winning post-production
company whose work spans commercial, feature and online media. The Santa Monica,
CA based company was founded in 2005 by Joe Disanto, John Ramsey, Wren Waters
and Doobie White, who are also the film`s Executive Producers. Therapy also
provided editorial, design, and post-production services for TRANSCENDENT MAN.
For more information:

www.youneedtherapy.tv.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5913714&lang=en

Ptolemaic Productions
Felicia Ptolemy, 310-619-0931
Producer
Felicia@PtolemaicProductions.com
or
Celia Black, 360-320-8087
Media Relations
Celia@PtolemaicProductions.com

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