RITUAL OBJECTS explores three traditional Buddhist rituals via the implements that are used in them. A young nun shares the meaning and mechanics of the iconic Tibetan PRAYER WHEEL. The visit of a High Lama to their remote monastery prompts a group of nuns to prepare a customary welcoming PROCESSION. And an old monk gently instructs one of the nuns on how to prepare the TORMA for an intricate Tibetan Buddhist ceremony. [Click here to download the pdf one-sheet.]

RITUAL OBJECTS had its World Premiere in Competition at the 2011 Palm Springs International ShortFest.

In the developing world, water-gathering is primarily a woman's job - rural Tibet is no exception. Multiple times a day, she carries a heavy bucket to a potable source of water and brings it back home 80-pounds full. Though necessary for her and her family's survival, this task is not only physically debilitating, but the time spent collecting water prohibits her from seeking income-earning employment, education and much-needed rest from her other exhausting responsibilities. In WATER, we watch a Tibetan woman as she collects water near her family's yak farm, in a ritual that takes her an hour to complete. [Click here to download the pdf one-sheet.]

WATER had its World Premiere in Competition at the 2011 SilverDocs Documentary Festival.

Tsampa - sometimes called the Tibetan national food - is a mixture of roasted barley flour, yak butter and tea, and is often the only food available to the subsistence farmers and yak herders of rural Tibet. In TSAMPA we watch as a young nun quietly preparing tsampa in a traditional yak tent, and are treated to a brief lesson in how to make eating a mindful act.

Produced, Directed and Edited by Bari Pearlman
Cinematograpy by Gena Konstantinakos