Pilgrims of the Extreme

Synopsis

Lost in the inaccessible West of Tibet, Mount Kailash is considered to be the axis of the world by nearly a billion believers in Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Bon religions. In the month of June, under the full moon, hundreds of pilgrims from every corner of Asia converge there to celebrate the summer solstice and the birth of Buddha. The voyage to Kailash is a terrible test of human endurance. Starting at the border, pilgrims are crammed into dilapidated trucks to face hundreds of kilometers of the only track, vertiginous and unstable, that crosses the great Tibetan west. Departing from Nepal, then in Lhasa, we mingle with these groups of pilgrims of various denominations. Then, in Dantesque weather conditions, the pilgrims, who pay no attention to the fact they are being filmed, we accompany them on an initiatory voyage of 50 km that finishes at over 5,000 meters of altitude.