‘Samsara - Lois Patiño’

This film will be screened extra muros at Cinema Galeries.

The screening will be followed by a conversation with the director.

Every morning, a Buddhist teenager visits an elderly woman’s home to read her The Tibetan Book of the Dead; 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.

Samsara is a story split in two: two continents, two communities, two belief systems, two sets of experiences and inner lives. Between them lies a sensory pathway, all light and sound. The film is set in Loas and Zanzibar and is meant to be an experimental documentary that uses fiction to depict a transcendental experience. Unsurprisingly, it won the Special Jury Award at the Encounters section of the 2023 Berlinale. The screening in Cinema Galeries marks the premiere of the film in Belgium.

Lois Patiño was born in Vigo (Spain) in 1983 and followed his cinema education in Madrid, New York and Barcelona. He is part of the illustrious generation of Galician filmmakers called 'Novo Cinema Galego'.

The film will be followed by a conversation with the director moderated by Mariana Cadenas Sangronis. Mariana, a visual storyteller with a ‘Doc Nomads’ master's degree from LUCA School of Arts, is currently working on an animated series about migration and a VR documentary experience.