take this production

Mantrayana

Short documentary, 2007, 32 min.

Meditative, commentless documentary about life in the Buddhist Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre in Ladakh, high in the Himalaya Mountains. In tranquil images, Fred Pelon shot the daily rituals, the mesmerising chanting of mantras, the washing of garments, the distributing of food, the shaving of prospective young monks' heads. The only sounds are those of singing, the melancholy ringing of bells and the flapping of flag lines in the mountain wind. But in the meditation centre, where young and old live together, people also watch TV and occasionally make fun. This produces beautiful, almost alienating images, for example of a procession of saffron-coloured young monks who, with the inaccessible mountains in the background, sing with a heavy accent: 'Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow, you're only a day away.'

View ISAN

Director

Producer

Cinematographer - DoP

Editor

Sound designer

Location sound recordist

Production company