Filmed in the high grasslands of eastern Tibet,
Summer Pasture offers an intimate glimpse into the life of a young nomad couple and their infant daughter. Locho and his wife Yama live in Dzachukha, eastern Tibet - nicknamed '5-most' by the Chinese for being the highest, coldest, poorest, largest, and most remote county in Sichuan Province. They depend on their herd of yaks for survival, much as their ancestors have for generations. In recent years however, Dzachukha has undergone rapid development, and Locho and Yama are finding their traditional way of life increasingly more difficult to maintain.
Summer Pasture evolves as a patient exploration of Locho and Yama's personalities, relationship, and the changes taking place around them. Over its course we witness their travails with illness, infidelity, and the dissolution of their community. In the face of mounting challenges, Locho and Yama ultimately reveal the personal sacrifice they will make to ensure their daughter's future. With rare access to a highly insular community, Summer Pasture is at once a deeply personal account of a vanishing way of life and a universal story of family survival.
SELECTED AWARDS AND SCREENINGS
Peabody Award Winner
Independent Lens (National PBS Broadcast)
Grand Prix Nanook, Jean Rouch International Film Festival (Paris)
Grant Jury Prize, Italy Trento Film Festival
International Premiere, Locarno Film Festival, Critic's Week
World Premiere and Inspiration Award Honorable Mention, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
RAI Award Special Jury Commendation, Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival (London)