A love that binds

Weaving together these memories with other sources of inspiration, the director wrote a script, which caught the attention of Cao Yu, a renowned cinematographer, and his actress wife, Yao Chen, during the 13th FIRST International Film Festival in Xining, Northwest China's Qinghai province, in 2019.

With investment from Bad Rabbit Pictures — a Beijing-based film company co-founded by the celebrity couple — the project shot its major scenes in the vast grassland of Inner Mongolia during the turn of the season from spring to summer in 2020.

Casting ethnic Mongolian actress Badma and ethnic Mongolian singer Yider as the mother and her youngest son, the 96-minute movie recounts the son, a musician living and performing in Beijing, returning to take care of his mother, who reveals severe signs of Alzheimer's after she causes trouble at his older brother's home.

The musician brings his mother back to their old house in the countryside, hoping to alleviate the burden on his brother and sister-in-law, but the mother — who is often lost in confusion — insists on returning to her "home", a place seemingly connecting to her childhood memories but perhaps merely existing in her imagination.