![]() Local officials signal the start of the season with a countdown and a gunshot. Yarsagumba fetches a price greater than gold in China, so the long journey and physically demanding forage merits the effort. Lalita and fellow residents of Maikot therefore make the long trek far above the pasturelands to higher altitudes. Lalita acknowledges that she’ll probably have to move abroad to give them a better future. They farm and harvest local crops, but the income isn’t enough to afford their children a proper education. Marrying young, though, means that she and Lucksin rely on traditional methods to raise a family. Photos and videos of their honeymoon phase pass by on her phone. ![]() She doesn’t voice regrets and, in fact, shares evidence of a blossoming romance. Lalita tells the filmmakers that she had dreams of another life, but married her husband, Lucksin, in keeping with the expectations of her community. Plante-Husaruk and Lacoste-Lebuis situate the annual yarsagumba harvest within Lalita’s daily life on which this gold rush depends. The season takes its toll, however, and Far Beyond the Pasturelands asks how much longer this way of life can sustain itself in a world that moves at a rapidly different pace. Lalita joins her family, friends, and neighbours on their hands and knees, crawling through the mountainside in search of riches. The precious fungus is barely visible to the naked eye. Yarsagumba, known as “natural Viagra,” is a small sinewy fungus that resembles a dehydrated piece of turmeric. The film follows a young Nepali woman named Lalita as she undertakes the annual pilgrimage high in the Himalayas to forage for the valuable root. This rich and picturesque observational doc by directors Maude Plante-Husaruk and Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis takes audiences on the elusive quest for yarsagumba. Move over, truffle hunters! The art of foraging assumes epic proportions in Far Beyond the Pasturelands. ![]() Maude Plante-Husaruk, Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis
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