117 minutes / Color
Tibetan / English subtitles
Release: 2016
An astonishing journey of redemption, faith, and devotion. Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Zhang Yang (Shower, Getting Home) blurs the border between documentary and fiction to follow a group of Tibetan villagers who leave their families and homes in the small village of Nyima to make a Buddhist "bowing pilgrimage"-laying their bodies flat on the ground after every few steps-along the 1,200 mile road to Lhasa, the holy capital of Tibet. Though united in their remarkable devotion, each of the travelers embarks on this near impossible journey for very personal reasons. One traveler needs to expunge bad family karma, a butcher wants to cleanse animal bloodstains from his soul, another nearing his life's end, hopes that the prostrations will break the chain of cause and effect determined by his life's actions.
Stunningly photographed over the course of an entire year, with non-professional actors and no script, PATHS OF THE SOUL is a mesmerizing study of faith that will inspire viewers to reflect on their own journey through life.
"There's never been a road movie quite like PATHS OF THE SOUL, an extraordinary chronicle of ordinary Tibetan citizens undertaking a 1,200-mile pilgrimage to Lhasa... a stirring study in faith and spirituality that will inspire many viewers to think about big and small questions of life."—Richard Kuipers, Variety
"A one of its kind journey for true believers… Nothing prepares the viewer for this sight. With Nyima driving a farm tractor that pulls a little wagon of provisions, the others take four or five steps down the paved highway before prostrating themselves on the ground. The ritual bowing includes an thick leather apron and blocks of wood to clap and protect the hands as the pilgrim stretches out on the road. This is repeated over and over, every few steps, for many months [until Zhang lets the stops out in a spectacular finale."—Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter
Select Accolades
Gendun Choephel, a legendary figure in Tibet, turned from the monastic life he was born to (as the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama), to become a fierce critic of his country's religious conservatism and isolationism.
Luc Schaedler | 2006 | 97 minutes | Color | English subtitles
The first feature documentary dealing extensively with Tibetan medicine.
Franz Reichle | 2004 | 89 minutes | Color | English subtitles
How do body and mind exist as an integrated whole? The eminent neurobiologist Francisco Varela devoted his entire life to answering this question. Featuring His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama
Franz Reichle | 2005 | 80 minutes | Color | English | English subtitles
A family on the Himalayan plains discovers their dog is worth a fortune, but selling it comes at a terrible price.
PEMA Tseden | 2012 | 88 minutes | Color | Tibetan | English subtitles
A film crew travels through Tibet, searching for actors for their adaptation of a classic Buddhist story.
Pema Tseden | 2013 | 105 minutes | Color | Tibetan | English subtitles
