'Sex, Drugs & Bicycles' takes a look at Dutch social democracy and answers the question: is having month-long double paid vacations, no fear of homelessness, and universal healthcare the nightmare we've been warned about?

Jonathan Blank makes movies, writes, and teaches kids to read. His latest film (writer/producer/director) is "Sex, Drugs & Bicycles," a feature-length documentary that journeys into Dutch social democracy to discover how people manage to live with month-long double-paid vacations, no fear of homelessness, and universal healthcare. What he found will surprise you. Then again it may not -- it really depends on a lot of factors outside his control.

Jonathan is currently producing two new projects "Talking to Animals," a documentary about animal consciousness, and "How’s Your Democracy," a TV series based on his film "Sex, Drugs & Bicycles." He has also written, produced and directed a number of films including "Sex, Drugs & Democracy" ("A seductive argument" --Roger Ebert), "Anarchy TV" ("A wild, crazy and twisted comedy!" --Jan Wahl, KRON-TV), and "Collecting America" ("Fascinating!" --Joseph Gelmis, NY Newsday) as well as the screenplays for two new fiction films: "Shaolin Kid," an action oriented, family film and "Zentropy," a comedy.

Jonathan is the co-author of "Secrets of Dragon Gate," published by Penguin, and "Still as a Mountain, Powerful as Thunder," published by Shambhala. He is currently writing a new book “Psychedelic Sailor,” about record setting endurance sailor and international marijuana smuggler, Reid Stowe, who shattered previous records by spending 1,152 days continuously at sea without resupply. And he is also working on a book, “Reinventing Reading,” about the need to fundamentally change the way people are taught to read.

Jonathan loves teaching kids to read. That’s why he created Reading Kingdom, an educational software company that has developed a series of online programs that use new, fun, and revolutionary ways to teach literacy.

Jonathan has also spent over 25 years studying high-level martial arts, meditation, Eastern philosophy and esoteric metaphysical practices with many remarkable teachers in the US and Asia. For several years, Jonathan served as the Western Liaison for the Shaolin Temple in Los Angeles (the Shaolin Temple is the birthplace of both Zen Buddhism and Chinese Kung Fu).

Jonathan has a BA and an MFA from Columbia University in New York. Learn more, http://www.sdbmovie.com/