His father is dead and his mother resorts to drinking alcohol instead of finding a job, meaning that there is often not enough coal to heat the home in the cold of winter.

When his mother returns to the countryside with one sibling, Ulzii is left to look after his brother and sister Tungaa (Nominjiguur Tsend) and Erkhemee (Tuguldur Batsaikhan).

He has to skip school in order to earn money by illegally logging the forest, which jeopardises his plans to enter the physics competition.

It is a co-production between Zoljargal Purevdash's Mongolian production house Amygdala Films and Paris-based Urban Factory, headed by producers Frédéric Corvez and Maeva Savinien.

[6] Reviewing the film at Cannes, Screen Daily said it was an "assured feature debut" by Purevdash and praised the "charismatic newcomer" Uurtsaikh.