Gurukulam

2016 • 109 minutes

About this movie

An evolution in the sensory experiential movement of verite filmmaking (SWEETGRASS, FOREIGN PARTS, LEVIATHAN), GURUKULAM creates a vivid and sensual film experience – immersing the viewer in an otherworldly but immediate atmosphere of spiritual contemplation. The film follows a group of students and their teacher as they confront fundamental questions about the nature of reality and self-identity at a remote forest ashram in southern India. Daily rituals are woven together connecting the natural and spiritual worlds in moments of surprising revelation and comic contradiction. Deeply observational and experiential, GURUKULAM evokes the presence of the place and a tactile sense of the sacred. The richly layered soundscape and the intimate imagery reveal a place of extraordinary beauty and simplicity. GURUKULAM is a rare invitation to look, listen, and experience a contemplative rhythm of life as old as the Bhagavad Gita and as new as present-day India.