Ala changso - CinemAsia

Drolma (Nyima Sungsung) surprises her gruff but loving husband Dorje (Yungdrung Gyal) with her plan take a pilgrimage to Lhasa — a grueling, year-long voyage. Norbu, her sulky, defiant son from a previous marriage, insists on coming along. A moving family drama unfolds even as a revelation shocks everyone to the core.

Winner of the Grand Jury and Screenwriting prizes at Shanghai Film Festival. Ala Changso, from Tibetan filmmaker Sonthar Gyal (The Sun Beaten Path) is meditative and transcendent. It puts the audience in the shoes of the pilgrim, who at every three steps, claps three times with wooden boards strapped to her hands, then lies face down on the road. The film uses this extreme act of devotion as a catalyst to confront emotional truths suppressed by its protagonists, who emerge as excruciatingly human in their capacity to hold on to pain, but also to heal.