The Days of the Future Buddhas

Shot on film between 1988 and 1993 and re-edited by the filmmaker in 2015, Days of Future Buddhas had also been banned… so has now returned to us from afar. Moreover, its subject is persistence – that of Buddhism in Russia during the Soviet era. The khambo-lama Mungko, whose burning funeral pyre is seen at the beginning of the film, will, according to belief, be reborn many times. The editing and voice-over follow the same principle, organising around this octogenarian a fluctuation between 1920s archives, conversations and Buddhist rites in Buryatia (eastern Siberia). “When religion was banned,” says a schoolteacher, “people began to pray to Chelsana Mountain because you can’t ban a mountain”… The story of Mungko’s education and long deportation is paralleled by the late 20th century.