Eli Meadow Ramraj

Eli Meadow Ramraj is a Canadian filmmaker and philosopher exploring consciousness, selfhood, and play through scholarship and cinema. Born and raised in Singapore, Eli has lived, studied, and worked in Vancouver Island, Toronto, Berlin, and London. By the age of 13, he had written and self-published four novels. At 18, Eli recieved a full-ride National Scholarship to the University of Toronto. He graduated with the Norman Jewison Fellowship in Film Studies and was selected for Canon Canada’s inaugural 12-month creative incubator, Canon Futures. He completed his first Master’s in Directing in Berlin, and his second Master’s in Philosophy at King's College London.

Eli is now a PhD student at the University of Toronto, pursuing a Research-Creation PhD on how films can do philosophy. Eli is also a Junior Fellow at Massey College. His work explores how cinema can transmit philosophical insights – in particular, how a film could create the conditions for audiences to directly experience a self-transcendent state of consciousness which fosters compassion, reduces violence, and expands care toward the environment and other beings. In parallel with his dissertation, he will be writing and directing The Man Who Had No Head, a feature film about an actor who experiences ego death at an awards show.

Eli is currently in post-production on Rooms, a 15-minute short film about consciousness, love, and that which cannot be contained.