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THE DOCUMENTARY

Paragami – To the Other Shore

A contemplative documentary film by Elisa Cucinelli

Filmed across Thailand, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka, Paragami – To the Other Shore moves through the spiritual landscapes of women tracing new paths of devotion, resilience, and quiet transformation within Theravada Buddhism.

The film weaves together the story of three Bikkhunis: Bhikkhuni Jutindhara, returning to Cambodia to help establish the country’s first Bhikkhuni monastery and training center; Ayye Kamala who set up a Bikkhuni Monastery in southern Thailand and is training many nuns and Bikkhunis and Venerable Saccadharani, a former Christian from the UK seeking full ordination in Sri Lanka.

Through immersive soundscapes, textured imagery, and a meditative rhythm, the film invites viewers into the sensory textures of monastic life: bells and chants, sweeping and alms rounds, the silence of dawn.
Rather than explaining, it listens, revealing the quiet strength and beauty of lives lived beyond normative gender expectations.

Paragami is not a journalistic investigation. It is a poetic, contemplative, deeply human cinematic experience, shaped as an offering rather than an argument.

  • Ayya Jutindhara at International Meditation Center, Cambodia

  • Ayya Kamala rehearse the chants for the Bikkhuni ordination in Sri Lanka

  • Walking meditation at Tippayasathandhamma Monastery

  • Close up on foot during meditation at Tippayasathandhamma Monastery

  • Ven. Saccadharani and Ven. Ariyamangala are listening to Ven. Vijithananda singing the ordination chant at Sakyadhita Monastery in Sri Lanka

  • Pali chant for the Bikkhuni Ordination

  • Ven. Saccadharani meditating on Koh Yo, southern Thailand

  • Close up on the hands of Ven. Saccadharani waiting to be ordained in Sakyadhita Monastery, Sri Lanka

  • Ven. Ariyamangala waiting by the bus station in Anudharapura, Sri Lanka

  • Ven. Saccadharani is preparing her bowl after eating, washing and drying it.

  • Ayya Jutindhara with Upasaka in a monastery in Mondulkiri Province, Cam

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  • Ayya Vijithananda from Sakyadhita Monastery is talking about Bikkhuni history as part of the Bikkhuni training