The Botanist

(Zhi wu xue jia)

featuring

Yesl Jahseleh, Ren Zihan, Jalen Nurdaolet, Eramazan Sarhet,

The wind bellows and glides across golden blades of grass in the sun-drenched valleys of Xinjiang, on the northern border between Kazakhstan and China. Arsin is a young Kazakh boy with a deep passion for the flora and fauna around him, giving keen attention to plants and all of their beguiling details. When he meets Meiyu, a spirited Han Chinese girl, she evokes the same feelings of enchantment that he experiences from the botanical beauty that surrounds him. What unfolds between Arsin and Meiyu is a magical-realist fantasy that speaks volumes about our ephemeral and ethereal ties to this wondrous world. In his directorial debut, Jing Yi engages a cast of nonactors and a real-world setting to produce a spellbinding representation of a forgotten land and its people, whose deep connection with nature offers meaningful lessons to live by. 

Jordan Klein
FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Jing Yi
Cinematographer
  • Vanon Li
Language
  • Kazakh
  • Mandarin
  • with English subtitles
Print Info
  • Color
  • DCP
  • 96 mins
Source
  • SFFILM

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