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by Tommi Mendel
color, 95 min, 2013
in Swiss, German, English, Spanish and French
with English subtitles
While the label of 'pilgrim' is still mostly associated with devout persons leaving home for purely religious motives, young people taking to the road as 'backpackers' are generally perceived as pleasure seeking globetrotters. Questioning these stereotypes, anthropologist and filmmaker Tommi Mendel followed two young women, one along the Way of St. James through France and Spain and another backpacking through Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. Documenting their experiences and encounters over a period of three years, this film reveals intriguing parallels on various levels between what at first glance appear as two different ways of traveling.
Common Roads is Tommi Mendel's PhD-thesis accepted by the University of Zurich and was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
