On a solitary road passing through the remote plains of Tibet, truck driver Jinpa accidentally runs over a sheep. On picking up a mysterious hitchhiker, he notices that his passenger has a silver dagger strapped to his leg. The hitchhiker reveals his mission, to kill someone who wronged him earlier in life. Jinpa, already worried about bad karma from killing a sheep, realises this encounter has deeper meaning.
Based on Tsering Norbu’s book The Slayer, and his own novel I Ran Over a Sheep, this is Tibetan writer/filmmaker Pema Tseden’s sixth feature. Produced by Wong Kar-Wai, it is mesmerising cinema told through stylised photography and the barren plains of Tibet. ‘This is a film about awakening. Once we are awoken, we can step onto the road towards the future.’ – Pema Tseden.
Notes by Marie-Pierre Richard.