SAMSARA

A film by Lois Patiño.

SAMSARA

A film by Lois Patiño.

Every morning, a Buddhist teenager visits an elderly woman’s home to read her The Bardo Thödol, a guide for the journey between death and the next rebirth. On her last day, the young man whispers the book’s final passages in her ear, closes his eyes, and meditates alongside her, as she embarks on a transformative journey into what lies beyond.

Status: Completed
Year: 2023
Genre: Drama
Country: Spain

Language: Lao, Swahili
Available subtitles: English, Spanish, Japanese, Romanian
Runtime: 113 minutes
Original title: Samsara

 

LOIS PATIÑO

Born in Galicia, Spain, in 1983, he studied psychology at the Complutense University of Madrid and then filmmaking at the city’s Centro Universitario de Artes and at the New York Film Academy. He completed his studies with a master’s degree in creative documentary at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. He has shown his films at festivals such as Cannes, Berlinale, Locarno, Toronto, Rotterdam, New York, Viennale, IDFA, and Oberhausen. His most recent works “Sycorax” (2021) and “The Sower of Stars” (2022), have premiered at the Director’s Fortnight of Cannes and Berlinale Shorts, and his two feature films “Costa da Morte” (2013) and “Red Moon Tide” (2020) premiered at Locarno and Berlinale Forum. His last feature, “Samsara”, premiered at Berlinale Encounters (2023), winning the Special Jury Award. He is currently working on two other films to be premiered in 2023 and 2024.

FILMOGRAPHY

2023 Samsara (113′)
2022 The Sower of Stars (25′)
2021 Sycorac (co-directed with Matías Piñeiro) (20′)
2020 Red Moon Tide (84′)
2016 Fajr (12′)
2015 Strata of the Image (7′)
2015 Night Without Distance (23′)
2013 Coast of Death (83′)
2012 Mountain in Shadow (12′)

CAST
Amid Keomany
Toumor Xiong
Simone Milavanh
Mariam Vuaa Mtego
Juwairiya Idrisa Uwesu
Bernedeta Gaspar
Ame Simai

CREW
Director: Lois Patiño
Screenplay: Lois Patiño, Garbiñe Ortega
Cinematography: Mauro Herce, Jessica Sarah Rinland
Editing: Lois Patiño
Sound: Xabier Erkizia
Executive producers: Claudia Salcedo, Garbiñe Ortega, Leire Apellaniz
Production Company: Sr&Sra

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

2023
Berlinale Encounters | Berlin International Film Festival · Special Jury Award
JEONJU International Film Festival | JEONJU Cinema Project
IndieLisboa | International Competition
European Union Film Festival – Romania
Bildrausch Filmfestival Basel
FICUNAM | International Competition · Audience Award
GENERATION Festival
Taipei Film Festival | Reality Bites
Zanzibar International Film Festival
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Horizons
Golden Apricot Yerevan IFF | International Competition
New Horizons International Film Festival | International Competition
Helsinki IFF – Love & Anarchy | Next Level
Thus Have I Seen Buddhist Film Festival
25 FPS – Zagreb International Experimental & Video Festival
BFI London Film Festival | Dare
Montréal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma | International Panorama
Bogotá International Film Festival | Expanded Views
UnderDox | International Film Festival for Experiment & Document
Film Fest Gent | Official Selection
Bordeaux International Independent FF | International Feature Competition · Best Original Music
Lima Alterna International Film Festival | Ibero-American Competition · Best Ibero-American Film
Bergen International Film Festival  | Cinema Extraordinaire Competition
São Paulo International Film Festival | International Perspective
SEMINCI – Valladolid International Film Festival | Official Section
Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist | Forma
Thessaloniki International Film Festival | Film Forward Competition · Golden Alexander Award
IDFA Festival | Paradocs
Ljubljana International Film Festival | Perspectives
Transit Filmfest
Laceno D’oro International Film Festival | Competition

_

2024
Panorama of the European Film, Egypt | Invisible World
Black Movie Geneva Film Festival | Phantom Members
Santo Domingo Global Film Festival | Hispanic Perspectives
Docpoint Tallinn
Antenna Documentary Film Festival | Panorama
First Look – Museum of the Moving Image
Uruguay International Film Festival | Focus on Spain
Hong Kong International Film Festival | Kaleidoscope
Wisconsin Film Festival
MOOOV Film Festival | Official Competition

A strikingly original and profound artwork. See it (and hear it) in a cinema, if at all possible.
Wendy Ide, The Guardian

A trascendent experience… Allows us to marvel at cinema’s miraculous capacity for the transportive and sublime.
Ben Nicholson, Sight and Sound

An extraordinary, multisensory journey through bodies, souls, and space. I am not entirely sure I am the person I was before watching it.
Leonardo Goi, The Film Stage

One of the most immersive experiences you’ll ever have in a cinema. A spellbinding cinematic experience.
William Stottor, Loud and Clear

By presenting an intimate, sensory experience that transcends boundaries, the film creates a deeply empathetic, moving, and humanistic encounter.
Martin Kudlac, ScreenAnarchy

Lois Patiño presents his most narrative and dynamic yet radical film, a sensorial experiment that invites the audience to experience it with their eyes closed.
Alfonso Rivera, Cineuropa

One of the most profound and visceral experiences I’ve ever had in a cinema.
Daniel Turner, Journey Into Cinema

A quiet, radical masterwork.
Neil Young, Little White Lies