Summer Cinema: Phörpa

“Buddhism is their philosophy. Soccer is their religion.”

Watching soccer or studying the teachings of Buddha? This Bhutanese sports comedy captures the clash of two worlds. Two young Tibetan refugees arrive at a monastery and boarding school in India. Instead of peaceful contemplation, however, they are unexpectedly swept up in soccer fever, which has spread all the way from France to this remote place.

The main instigator of the soccer revolution is a young student named Orgyen. Since various circumstances prevent him from watching the championship final on TV in a nearby village, Orgyen decides to arrange for the monastery to rent a television. This endeavour becomes a test of solidarity, resourcefulness, and friendship for the students, while the lama, the monastery’s abbot, reflects on the challenges of spreading Buddha’s teachings in a rapidly changing world.

Phörpa
Director: Khyentse Norbu
Bhutan / Australia, 1999, 93 min
in the original language with English subtitles

Free Entry

Summer cinema returns to MeetFactory for the fourteenth time. A curated selection of eleven films will be screened in the Factory's backyard, as selected by the members of the venue's team. In June and July, the screenings begin at 9:30 p.m.; in August and September at 8:30 p.m. Before the film, the current exhibitions in MeetFactory Gallery and Kostka Gallery can be visited free of charge. A bar is available on site, and admission to all screenings is free.

More general can be found here.