APM - Asian Project Market

 

Back to list The Botanist (aka The Botanist in the White House)

Director’s Profile

Jing Yi, born in 1994 and raised in Xinjiang, graduated from Beijing Film Academy. His first feature film project The Botanist in the White House (in Kazakh), is currently in pre-production. He has previously written and directed several short films including Manlika (in Uyghur, 2021), You Are Still a Calm Bride (in Chinese, 2021), Bek (in Kazakh, 2020), and The Bus Driver (in Xibe, 2019). His works often focus on the mental world of minority groups in contemporary China.

Synopsis

Living close to the Chinese border with Kazakhstan in northern Xinjiang, a lonely Kazakh boy Arsin is obsessed with plants in the valley and savannah. He thinks of himself as a plant and all other plants as friends. One day, a Han girl Meiyu comes into his life. Elusive Meiyu is like a submerged plant completely unknown to Arsin. He tells Meiyu about his nomadic family memories through plants, and a hazy romance starts to grow. But an undercurrent of tension is changing their life, turning those good old days into a sleep walking lost in the plant world.

Achievements

2025 Berlin International Film Festival - Grand Prix of the Generation International Jury for the Best Film in Generation Kplus
2025 Hong Kong International Film Festival - Golden Firebird Award(Best Director-Young Chinese Cinema), FIPRESCI Prize
2025 San Francisco International Film Festival
2025 Beijing International Film Festival - Forward Future Award

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