Summer Pasture

This documentary, about a group of nomads living in Tibet, focuses on a family: the father, Locho; the mother, Yama; and their young baby girl. It traces their day-to-day lives, which, while obviously different from the lives of people in more-modern settings, have many of the same fundamentals: They are concerned with keeping their home clean and warm, and putting food on the table each day. The film explores how the family deals with a steadily modernizing world, but mostly focuses on Locho and Yama’s profound emotional connection. While the film can be somewhat slow at times, its short runtime leaves little room for it to becoming uninteresting. The couple has survived many hardships, and the stories they tell are deeply personal and extremely fascinating. One scene toward the end is especially riveting; this sad yet touching moment alone makes the movie worth seeing.