Understanding how the intricacies of societal history influenced a person’s individual life path can be an emotional journey for not just them, but also their family – and the entire world. The new documentary, ‘Mola – A Tibetan Tale of Love and Loss,’ explores the voyage of its titular character as she contended with the complexities of her political and religious exile from her homeland more than 65 years ago.

‘Mola’ follows Kunsang Wangmo, who’s known as Mola to her family and is a Tibetan nun exiled from her homeland in 1959 to escape the Chinese occupation. Now 100 years old, Mola, who has lived with her daughter, Sonam Dolma Brauen, in Switzerland for the past 45 years, has decided her last wish is to die in Tibet. As a result, the mother and daughter must come to terms with this decision. Sonam must embark on a sentimental and nostalgic trip with her husband, Martin Brauen, to make her mother’s last wish come true.

In the process, the family must contend with several challenges, including overcoming the bureaucratic challenge of securing a visa for Mola to return to Tibet. They must also overcome the reality that granting her desire may mean saying goodbye to her forever.

Martin was joined by his daughter with Sonam, Yangzom Brauen, to co-direct and serve as the cinematographers on the film. Martin and Yangzom also executive produced the movie.

Union Editorial generously helped the Brauens bring Mola’s story to the screen, as the company co-produced and edited ‘Mola.’ Several members from Union Editorial participated as key members on the documentary, including Michael Raimondi, who served as an executive producer; Katherine LeBlond, who worked as a co-executive producer; and James Haygood, who was the supervising editor on the project.

‘Mola’ had its North American Premiere in the Documentary Spotlight section of this year’s SXSW. Yangzom and Martin generously took the time to talk about helming the film during an exclusive interview following a screening of the feature at the Austin-based festival.

During the chat, Yangzom mentioned that “It’s amazing to be here (at SXSW)…and see that an American audience understands the story. …They laughed when they were supposed to laugh, and cried at the more emotional scenes.”

The audience embraced the movie as it excels in its storytelling. The connection between Mola and Sonam on screen truly drives the eponymous character’s reflection on her past, including how her work and exile impacted her love for her family.

Sonam, meanwhile, isn’t afraid to show how she’s struggling to accept that her mother wishes to return to her former home, despite building a life with their family for almost half-a-century in Switzerland. The tension that Sonam and the rest of the family feels as they accept the separation from Mola is shown in an honest and heartfelt manner.

During the interview, Yangzom mentioned that she and the rest of her family, including her parents, Sonam and Martin, decided in 2014to film the intimate journey of Mola’s last years. At the time, they didn’t want to miss the period to film Mola and “ask questions about her belief as a Tibetan Buddhist nun…We also felt that she was a very interesting, charismatic person, so we wanted to follow her day-to-day life.”

Yangzom also shared that “When she turned 100, she suddenly told us that she wanted to return to Tibet and die there. So that gave the film a totally new meaning. The discussion between my grandmother and my mother, who is her daughter, really helped shape the film.”

Martin then chimed in that his family “also wanted to include another layer – a political layer – in the movie, but not too strongly. So one aspect we wanted to clearly show was why this woman went from her native country of Tibet to India to Switzerland.

“Another aspect that was important to show – to me, at least – was this woman’s resilience. She lost her mother and her father, and then she lost two children, which we don’t mention in the movie. She then lost her husband. But she was still strong, like before all that happened. It’s obvious that her beliefs helped her to be so strong,” the filmmaker added.

The movie also allows Mola to shine through the immaculate editing by Haygood and his fellow editor, Samir Samperisi. The filmmakers blended the protagonist’s past and present through riveting and sentimental archival footage. The archived photos truly give resonance to Mola’s story, and highlight how she remained deeply devoted to her beliefs, no matter what obstacles she faced throughout her life.

Yangzom praised Haygood and Samperisi’s editing style, particularly in choosing the archival footage they included in the documentary. She noted that their approach eliminated the need to use a voice-over in the completed project.

A clever trick Martin felt that Haygood and Samperisi incorporated into the film was blending historic pictures into the narrative with images of Mola sleeping. “She told us that whenever she slept, she had nightmares, especially in the beginning. That’s why we chose this way to reflect on history,” the director shared.

Mola’s story was also authentically brought to the screen by Yangzom and Martin’s skilled and personal directorial style, which was supported by the project’s producers, including Raimondi and LeBlond. With the feature being a nostalgic, genuine true-to-life documentary, the helmers-cinematographers “had to film whatever we saw and not recreate scenes…we have a good eye, and we knew what the story was” while they were deciding on which moments they should capture on camera during the shoot.

Overall, ‘Mola’ is a compelling and heartfelt cinematic experience. The filmmakers’ close connection to their family’s matriarch crafted a heartwarming authenticity in their storytelling. The narrative was beautifully brought to the screen through their cinematography and the editing from Haygood and Samperisi.

‘Mola’ captures organic moments of both humorous and serious emotions between the family matriarch and her relatives. The movie not only offers a solution on the search for closure for both Mola and her loved ones after they reflected on her past, but also a captivating exploration into what it means to belong and the sacrifices people make for love.