In short
- 100 Sunset is the feature directing debut of Canadian-Tibetan filmmaker Kunsang Kyirong.
- The film’s central character, 18-year-old Kunsel, is played by Kenzin Kunsel and lives in a Toronto high-rise its Tibetan residents call Sunset Towers.
- Tsering Bawa plays Kunsel’s uncle Geysar, the building’s caretaker, who runs card games out of the family apartment.
- A suitcase holding $200,000 in cash, the payout from an informal savings and lending scheme in the building, drives one storyline in the film.
- The review of 100 Sunset was published on 9 November 2026.
Canadian-Tibetan filmmaker Kunsang Kyirong’s first feature, 100 Sunset, follows an 18-year-old woman named Kunsel through Toronto’s Tibetan community, and a Guardian review published on 9 November 2026 describes it as an elliptical, dreamlike drama in which little is explained and not much happens.
Kunsang Kyirong directed the film, her feature debut, and cast nonprofessional actors to portray the tight-knit Tibetan community in Toronto.
What is 100 Sunset about?
Much of the film takes place in a grey high-rise block that its Tibetan residents call Sunset Towers, where, in the review’s description, neighbours seem to know everything about one another’s business. Kunsel, played by Kenzin Kunsel, is introverted to the point of wordlessness and is a compulsive thief who rifles through handbags and coat pockets, with a knack for taking what the review calls her victims’ most precious belongings.
Who else is in the cast?
Kunsel’s uncle Geysar, played by Tsering Bawa, is the building’s caretaker and runs card games out of the family apartment. Sonam Choekyi plays Passang, a woman a couple of years older than Kunsel who has recently moved into apartment number 100 with her husband.
How does a stolen camcorder change the story?
One night Kunsel steals a camcorder, and the shaky footage she films afterwards gives what the review calls an inkling of her interior life, with the faintest flicker of voyeurism as she starts spying on neighbours from her window. Her gaze settles in particular on Passang, who is, in the review’s words, “older, more experienced, clued up”. The two women become friends, travel by subway to the wintry countryside outside Toronto and take an English language class together.
What happens with the $200,000?
The film introduces a suitcase stuffed with $200,000 in cash, the payout from an informal savings and lending scheme in the building. The review says the storyline offers the potential for action and suspense, but that the drama of the missing money fades “like a vapour trail in the sky”.
What does the review say about the film’s mood?
The review describes 100 Sunset as drifting in a dreamlike manner and says its mood of disorientation and dislocation may be a reflection of Kunsel’s state of mind.
Frequently asked questions
What is the film 100 Sunset about?
It follows Kunsel, an 18-year-old living in a Toronto high-rise known to its Tibetan residents as Sunset Towers, as she steals from neighbours and befriends a woman who has just moved into apartment number 100.
Who directed 100 Sunset?
100 Sunset is the feature directing debut of Canadian-Tibetan filmmaker Kunsang Kyirong, who cast nonprofessional actors in the film.
Who plays Kunsel in 100 Sunset?
Kenzin Kunsel plays the lead role of Kunsel, alongside Tsering Bawa as her uncle Geysar and Sonam Choekyi as Passang.
What happens to the $200,000 in the film?
A suitcase holding $200,000 in cash from an informal savings and lending scheme in the building sets up a suspense storyline, but the review says the drama of the missing money ultimately fades.
With reporting from The Guardian.
Stock image, not from the events described. City Skyline — Joe deSousa / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)
