Thomas Balmès
Switzerland, France, Germany | 2019 | 99 min
Swiss Premiere
Language : Dzongkha
Subtitles : English, French
In Bhutan, on an isolated mountain, Peyangki lives and studies in a Buddhist monastery where the arrival of the Internet has heavily disrupted daily rituals. Through the WeChat app, he becomes fascinated by a singer, and forgets about his studies. A deeply surprising film on the effects of new technologies on our private life.
In Bhutan, on an isolated mountain, a Buddhist monastery welcomes young pupils who dedicate their lives to study, prayer and meditation. The studious life of the young monks now plays out between ancestral rituals and smartphone screens. In the middle of this new paradigm imposed by technology, the life of the young monk Peyangki shifts when, through the application WeChat, he meets a pop singer who lives in Thimphu, the country’s capital. From now on Peyangki will have only one obsession: getting together enough money to go and meet his loved one, without worrying about all that he could lose on the way. This virtual love story reveals the insurmountable collision between a traditional society and the meteoric arrival of a certain modernity. Through the story of Peyangki, disoriented by this confrontation between two worlds that prove to be incompatible, the film offers a biting reflection on the effects of new technologies on our private lives.
Elena López Riera
