20th International Festival of Silent Film and Live Music

Director: Kim Ki- Duk, South Korea 2004, 1 hr. 43 min.

Musical accompaniment: SEDAA – Traditional Mongolian Music.

Life: The seasons, the cycle of birth, growth and decay. Even in the hermitage, the monks do not manage to keep themselves from it.
The story of a monk who has painful experiences: he loses his innocence, falls in love and finally experiences the murderous feeling of jealousy. His inner balance is overridden by his feelings. Under the guidance of his master, the young monk must learn spiritual purity in the solitude of a raft floating on a mountain lake, on which there is a hut.

His lessons are marked by penance and pain. Occasionally, worldly life breaks into the seclusion in the form of the rare visitor and leaves its mark. Dealing with these influences is one of the most difficult tasks the monk must face.

Archaic images of teaching and learning, guilt and atonement, love and death.