SYNOPSIS

In this expanded cinema performance, travelogues and memories—traversing time and space, to and from Tibet—are interwoven.

Through text, researcher-writer Alexandra David-Néel’s journey across the Himalayas a century ago unfolds via her letters home—seeking answers in a world fractured by colonial entanglements, wars, and human ferocity.

In cinematic space, filmmaker Yi Cui’s experiences in eastern Tibet are reflected through her own lens and those of native Tibetans. What begins through her encounter with a legendary school in the region gradually turns into an elegy—as violence eclipses “history”, yet fails to erase memory.

In conversation with the screen, the live performance channels the journey of a Tibetan, Tsering Topgyal, who fled his homeland as a child during China’s occupation, migrating through India, Nepal, and America. Stirred by the resonances of text and image, Tsering improvises—his voice, body and objects become vessels of memories and a dialogue with the idea of home.

Through this weaving of media, the performance invites viewers into a meditative space open to contemplation on life, death, history, remembrance, the self, and more.