Director: Thomas Gonschior
Country: Germany
Year: 2015
Monasteries burned, families relocated, paintings destroyed—such devastation marked the Communist incursion into Mongolia during the early 20th century. It wasn’t until 1990, after the Soviet Union fell, that the Buddhist communities of Mongolia slowly began to recuperate. In this captivating documentary, we travel to Mongolia to meet students training in the ancient art of ceremonial painting and their teacher, Lama Purevbat, who sees the practice as one small part of his nation’s effort to rectify the violence of its recent past. “You can fight 1,000 wars, but that does not make you strong,” asserts Lama Purevbat. “Only if you defeat the evil within yourself, only then you will become strong.”