August (2024)

A Cathartic Journey

Zhang Zhehan tells his story through snapshots of the people he meets and of the natural wonders he sees on the journey to Lhasa.

The result is a documentary full of warmth and happy discoveries, with an undertone of the director's struggle to embody that joy himself as he used to. And what perhaps matters the most when discussing topics such as mental health and healing, Zhang doesn't portray the story as a cookie-cutter, happy ending fairytale.

Throughout, the documentary is visually gorgeous. The power of nature is shown in full, and so are the hopes, dreams and daily life of the people encountered on the way. There is no artificial dramatization of the events or emotions, and no attempt to turn human experience into a consumable.
Zhang Zhehan lets the genuine happiness, confusion and love of the journey speak for themselves, all the while carefully listening to them himself.

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Amazing Tibet biking documentary

I love to know how Zhang Zhehan is throughout the best Tibet biking documentary. The people he met, the stunning landscapes of Tibet captured by him, and the words showing his lovely and thoughtful mind, all let me know the importance of life keep going and no regret to the past. I wish I can see more about this kind of documentary by the director Zhang Zhehan.

It's really the August I imagined, and it's not just that August. Listening to Zhang Zhehan talk about every August he encountered in his life, until that moment. He pushed August into the abyss with us, watching him climb up the iceberg step by step, with endless cliffs next to him, as if that August had been embodied in this way, and then restarted in August of 2022, and finally August of 2023. Arriving in his dream Tibet, I seemed to be inspired by his indomitable spirit and revived, just like I had experienced the past three years with him.

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