Shamanism

RITUAL JOURNEYS is an inti­mate por­trait of Merayk, an 80 years old Lepcha shaman or Padim. Merayk lives with his family in Dzongu, a Lepcha reserve in North Sikkim, East­ern Himalayas. He per­forms heal­ing rit­u­als for indi­vid­u­als as well as rit­u­als for the well­be­ing of the house­hold, the clan and his vil­lage com­mu­ni­ty. Cam­era­man Dawa Lepcha fol­lowed Merayk and record­ed his daily life and rit­u­als between 2003 and 2010. 

Taking as its exam­ple a local, Himalayan shaman­ic tra­di­tion that of the North­ern Magar from the Dhaula­gari Massif region this film puts on dis­play the land­scapes called upon by local … read more

Oppitz’s film is a doc­u­men­tary epic about the shaman­ic prac­tices of a vil­lage in the north-west­ern Himalayas. In the shadow of the Dhaula­giri Massif live the North­ern Magar. Cut off … read more