Journey From Zanskar

Run Time: 1 hr 30 min
Florida Film Festival Screenings:
April 10 at 6:15pm and April 14 at 4:00pm (filmmaker Q&A)
Directed by: Frederick Marx: 8/10

In our society many people don’t like to do anything that is really hard to do for a simple looking goal. Getting an education is something that many people in the United States take for granted because it is free but this is not the case for others. In Frederick Marx’s documentary Journey From Zanskar he shows how determined people in that area can be to make sure the children get educated for a better future.

Journey from Zanskar documents the effort of a few monks to try and get twelve children from towns in Zanskar to a town called Manila where they can get a proper education. The film follows the idea of what many would assume a “travel” documentary would look like. The audience follows the process of the travelers getting ready and the hardship that occurs but the film is still different because of the spirit behind the people that we follow. This isn’t a journey of leisure or some one doing something for a person that we never see but this journey is to change the lives of children that may have not had a future. Not to mention the fact that this trek involves children as young as preschoolers going through conditions that only your friends that are labeled daredevils would may be consider.

At the end of the film there is a combination of mixed emotions when the film is done but not in the sense that the film is bad. You enjoy the children that you meet in the film and you hope nothing but good things for the children. Also you will be happy that you live in a country where you may never have to endure such strife. In the end, like many documentaries, you mind is opened more than before seeing the film which can help us better understand our fellow human beings.
-Ashlyn Williams