MANAKAMANA

"In Manakamana, Pacho and I challenged ourselves to take what we love from structural films, and infuse it with a sincere engagement with human subjects." – filmmaker Stephanie Spray

From the Harvard Sensory Ethnography Laboratory, responsible for Leviathan (MIFF 2013) and Sweetgrass (MIFF 2010), comes this quiet, rhythmic meditation on pilgrimage in the age of mass transportation.

A procession of individuals – some in pairs, some alone – take a cable-car trip to Nepal's Manakamana temple. Over the course of each journey, these passengers talk, move around or gaze out at the landscape. The result is a unique cinema experience, not least for the spectacular views of central Nepal's mountains and jungles.

Winner of the Golden Leopard in the Filmmakers of the Present section at the Locarno Film Festival.

"A completely beguiling look at how we behave during those mundane moments that are in-between the seemingly more important ones." – Paste