NETPAC Award Winners, 2025. Ханын зураач / The Muralist

Synopsis

In the post-Soviet sprawl of Ulaanbaatar, Bayaraa, a muralist who spent his glory years in Europe, returns with nothing but a rooftop tent and fading paints. Each dawn he rappels down an abandoned Soviet-era factory wall, painting mythic Mongolian landscapes across crumbling concrete while a sardonic red balloon — equal parts conscience and Greek chorus — floats overhead. When city officials announce the site will be bulldozed, Bayaraa digs in. His unexpected encounter with a young Japanese interpreter slowly dismantles the walls around his heart — and reveals a decades-old wound: the family he abandoned for art.