Lo Sum Choe Sum

Dechen Roder : 2015
3 Year 3 Month Retreat

In the traditional Buddhist meditation practice of Lo Sum Choe Sum, monks, nuns and other devout practitioners withdraw from worldly life for a three year and three month retreat. This period is defined as the time deemed necessary to attain a higher level of clarity and transformation. Lhamo is a young woman living in Bhutan. She is on a journey. Driving through the mountains by bus. During a stop, she climbs a mountain on her own and almost misses the bus. Then all the travellers are brought to a halt when police search the bus. Lhamo is arrested. In carefully composed tableaux that juxtapose city and rural life as well as traditional and contemporary ways of living, the director tells the story of a woman whose perception of autonomy is owed to the experiences and spiritual practices of her past. Dechen Roder's short premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2015.