Continuing his previous work, The Sower of Stars, shot in Japan, Lois PATIÑO leaves his familiar landscapes to explore the visual and sensory adventure in a new place. Set in two locations, Laos and Zanzibar, Samsara subtly and respectfully weaves fiction and reality in real sceneries and with people who live there to tell a beautiful story of how different religion belief systems understand life, death, and the afterlife. Samsara successfully shows the invisible through the most dangerous and poetic proposal that a film can offer to the audience today: requesting them to close their eyes. It is lauded as the best exemplar (to date) of PATIÑO's directorial talent by stepping closer to the characters that the filmmaker created and blending gentle emotions into the screen. (Sung MOON)