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SFFILM Festival

Paths of the Soul

Directed by Zhang Yang

China | 115

22 Apr
Fri, Apr 22, 2016 at 1:00 pm PT

Description

Chinese director Zhang Yang’s Paths of the Soul is a captivating and profound portrait of a small group of Tibetan villagers on an arduous pilgrimage to the holy city of Lhasa. This meticulous and soulful film offers a rare glimpse of a startlingly difficult rite of passage, one that requires the devotees to not only walk 1,000 miles on a dangerous highway, but to kowtow the entire way, constantly dropping to a prone position and even touching their foreheads to the asphalt. Beautifully shot in a documentary style in the Himalayas, Zhang recruited villagers on the Tibet-Yunnan border to recreate the arduous pilgrimage. The trip is long and moves at the speed of the tractor that carries their supplies, but is not without drama. No obstacle can stop them from completing their odyssey as the group encounters birth, death, frigid temperatures, accidents and more. The journey becomes an astonishing representation of group dynamics and togetherness, and when they finally move on from magnificent Potala Palace into the breathtaking vistas by holy Mt. Kailash, the film radiates an unearthly beauty and the toil and suffering of both the trek and the pilgrims’ lives is magically transcended. —Gustavus Kundahl

Director Zhang Yang

The son of director Zhang Huaxun, Beijing filmmaker Zhang Yang studied literature before attending the Central Academy of Drama and graduating in 1992. Zhang is known for his insightful and amusing social dramas, such as Spicy Love Soup (1997), Shower (SFIFF 2000) and Quitting (2001). Two of his most recent films, Getting Home (2007) and Full Circle (2012), are acclaimed and unusual road movies.

Trailer

//player.vimeo.com/video/157228616?autoplay=1

Film Details

Language Tibetan

Year 2015

Runtime 115

Country China

Director Zhang Yang

Producer Zhang Yang

Writer Zhang Yang

Editor Wei Le

Cinematographer Guo Daming

Cast Yang Pei, Nyima Zadui, Tsewang Dolkar