Festival Favorite Bi Gan Mentored the Dreamy Berlin Coming-of-Age Premiere ‘The Botanist’ to Bloom: Watch the Teaser

One of IndieWire’s favorite films of 2019 was “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” Chinese director Bi Gan‘s genre-bending epic that used 3D and more formally twisting conceits to tell a story of romantic longing and a tryst that leads to a disappearance. While between films, Bi, who is rumored to have his much-anticipated third feature “Resurrection” premiere at Cannes this year, ended up mentoring a young budding director for their own woozily dreamy portrait, “The Botanist.” Jing Yi’s new film premieres at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival in the Generation Kplus section, and IndieWire shares an exclusive first look below.

Here’s the synopsis, per the Berlinale’s official website: “In a village in a remote valley on the northern border of Xinjiang, China, a lonely Kazakh boy named Arsin nurses fading memories of his family. He finds solace in the company of plants. The arrival of Meiyu, a Han Chinese girl, is like the discovery of a plant he has never seen before, bringing him comfort and a strange sense of wonder. Together, they grow like two distinct species, rooted in a shared corner of the world, imagining the valley as an endless ocean. But one day, Arsin learns that Meiyu will be moving to Shanghai, which is 4,792 kilometres away – a distance he struggles to comprehend. She is headed to a city where the ocean actually exists. Arsin is left alone to grapple with the quiet shifts in their small, fragile world.”

Jing Yi, born in 1994 and raised in Xinjiang, is a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy. His debut feature film “The Botanist” was selected as an official project at the Asian Project Market 2023, where it won the New Horse Award. The film also received post-production funding from the Doha Film Institute Grants Programme 2024 Spring session.

“The Botanist” premieres on Saturday, February 15. Here’s the teaser. Magnify is handling worldwide sales rights.