SUMMER PASTURE

Dir. Lynn True, Nelson Walker III 

2010 | 102 min | USA | Tibetan | Documentary

Watch On:

Vimeo - Amazon

Synopsis

Summer Pasture is a feature-length documentary about a young nomadic couple living with their infant daughter in the high grasslands of eastern Tibet. Filmed during the summer of 2007 with rare access to an area seldom visited by outsiders, Summer Pasture offers an unprecedented window into a highly insular community and a sensitive portrait of a family at a time of great transition. 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 area in Sichuan Province, China. They depend on their herd of yaks for survival, just as their ancestors have for generations. In recent years however, Dzachukha has undergone rapid development, which poses unprecedented challenges to nomadic life.

  • Enthralling.
    The New York Times
  • Summer Pasture has an earthy intimacy and compassion for its subjects that will have you thinking about their plight long after they've packed up and moved on for winter.
    LA Times
  • Summer Pasture is beautiful and important. For me, the best documentary of 2010.
    Albert Maysles
  • Remarkable.
    LA Weekly

Awards

Truer Than Fiction Award - Film Independent Spirit Awards

Inspiration Award, Honorable Mention - Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

Best Documentary - Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival

John Schlesinger Award - Palm Springs International Film Festival

Visual Achievement Award - San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival

Peabody Award - Peabody Awards


Crew