Samsara

**SAMSARA** is a story in two parts: two continents, two communities, two belief systems, two ways of experiencing and understanding the world. Between them lies a sensory pathway made of nothing but light and sound. The audience is simply invited to close their eyes and embark on the journey.

In Laos, a young man named Amid cares for a dying woman. He travels on the Mekong River in his boat. One day, he meets a novice monk named Bee An, who asks him about the book he is carrying. Amid explains that it is the *Bardo Thodol*, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and that he has been reading it to her. “It’s a book someone has to read to you,” Amid says. He returns to the woman and watches as she says goodbye to her belongings. Amid’s adult life begins where hers ends. He drips water onto her hand to awaken her. “What can I do,” Amid reads to her, “now that I am dead?” Along with a group of monks from Bee An’s temple, Amid travels downriver to the Kuang Si waterfalls. While they are there, the woman dies.

Another droplet of water, another hand. The story continues in Tanzania, where a young girl named Juwairiya wakes to the news that a baby goat has been born. She names it Neema, the Arabic word for blessing. Juwairiya lives with her family in Uroa, a village on the east coast of Zanzibar. The women cultivate seaweed and make soap. The men fish. “Life is change,” says Juwairiya’s grandmother. A new beginning is in the air.

**Samsara** won the Jury’s Special Prize in the Encounters section at the 73rd Berlinale in 2023.
In collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes and the European Film Festivals.