Through an intricate synthesis of images, and without a single word of dialogue, this intoxicating film takes us on a cross-continental journey through our modern world. Samsara is a Tibetan word that means “the ever-turning wheel of life.” Contributing to the cyclical rhythm at work, music builds and drifts away throughout this vast array of images, impeccably captured on 70mm film. Golden hilltop palaces glisten in the sun. Conveyer belts lead to lines of workers plucking and cutting chicken carcasses. A series of children are tenderly baptized in extreme close up, droplets of water falling from their heads. Buckled homes lay atop crushed cars in post-Katrina New Orleans. Some images are entirely familiar while others are remote and exotic, but in this presentation their interconnectedness becomes evident. Our capacity to build is nearly always met with the possibility of decay and destruction. This fascinating work, in portraits that range from the horrific to the divine, invites us to embrace our perplexing existence.  ST