The Muralist

When an exiled artist returns to paint his last mural, the wall—and his forgotten family—become a mirror of everything he lost

Synopsis

Bayar, once Mongolia’s most daring muralist, spent two decades in self‑imposed European exile. Now grey‑haired and restless, he is drawn back to Ulaanbaatar by a commission to transform the crumbling wall of a Soviet‑era power plant. As neon shopping malls eclipse familiar streets, Bayar battles the city’s new pace, the ghosts of his past—and the daughter who refuses to speak to him. The Muralist is a meditative drama about the price of creative obsession and the fragile brushstrokes that bind family, memory, and art.

About the Film

In present‑day Mongolia, rapid development buries entire neighborhoods beneath glass and steel. Bayar, now in his late fifties, returns from Paris with one suitcase of paint and a heart full of unfinished memories.
Hiring two teenage assistants, he chooses a forgotten factory wall on the city’s fringe—a place his daughter once loved as a child. Each dawn he sketches fragments of myth and memory: migrating cranes, the blue eternal sky, a child reaching for her father’s hand.
The film unfolds in patient, uninterrupted takes—inviting the viewer to inhabit Bayar’s inner monologue as art bleeds into memory, and memory into regret. Street noise warps into childhood lullabies; scaffolding becomes the spine of a long‑lost ger.
Just as the mural nears completion, a local developer threatens demolition, forcing Bayar to decide whether to fight for permanence or accept impermanence—on the wall and in his family.

Director’s Statement

“I have always wanted the camera to breathe with my characters—to share their doubt, their fatigue, their fleeting hope. In The Muralist I pursue ‘montage within the frame’: long takes where past and present co‑exist without a cut. Mongolia is not postcard steppes here; it is a psychological landscape where cranes, concrete, and childhood all occupy the same breath.”

Sengedorj Janchivdorj

About J. Sengdorj

1993-1995: Children and Youth Theater, Lighting Technician

2000-2003: Children and Youth Theater, Director
2013-present: SAN Pictures, Director
2018-present: Mongolian Film Producers Association, Chairman of the Board

Filmography: 1998: Director, "White Night" Feature Film 1999: Director, "The Road from Heaven to Life" Feature Film 2001-2003: Director, "Dreamship" International Co-production Feature Film, 20 episodes 2005-2006: Second Director, "Blue Wolf" Japanese-Mongolian Co-production Feature Film 2010: Director, "Adam/Oxygen" Feature Film 2011: Director, "The Thought Thief" Feature Film 2012: Director, "The Color of the Sun" Feature Film 2013: Director, "Lardma" Feature Film 2014: Director, "Scarecrow" Feature Film 2014: Director, "In Search of Omar" Feature Film 2015: Director, "Stand Up" Feature Film 2016: Director, "Lovers" Feature Film 2017: Director, "White Khadag" Feature Film 2018: Director, "Life" Feature Film 2019: Director, "I Am" Feature Film 2020: Director, "Wife" Feature Film 2021: Director, "The Sales Girl" Feature Film 2022: Director, "Restart" 2023: Director, "Silent City Driver"

Awards:

"Adam/Oxygen" Feature Film, Nara International Film Festival, Japan, 2010
"Adam/Oxygen" Feature Film, Sindy International Film Festival, South Korea, 2011
"The Thought Thief" Feature Film, Best Film, Mongolian Academy Awards, 2011
"The Thought Thief" Feature Film, Asian Film Awards Los Angeles, 2012
"Scarecrow" Feature Film, Best Film, Mongolian Academy Awards, 2014
"Lovers" Feature Film, Best Director, Mongolian Academy Awards, 2016
"White Khadag" Feature Film, Giffoni International Film Festival, 2017
"White Khadag" Feature Film, Asia Pacific Screen Awards, 2017
"Life" Feature Film, Best Film, Ulaanbaatar International Film Festival, 2018
"Wife" Feature Film, Best Director, Ulaanbaatar International Film Festival, 2019
"The Sales Girl" Feature Film, Yakushi Pearl Award, Osaka Asian Film Festival, 2022
"The Sales Girl" Feature Film, Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film, New York Asian Film Festival, 2022
"The Sales Girl" Feature Film, Busan International Film Festival, 2022
"The Sales Girl" Feature Film, Special Mention of Jury, Asian Film Festival Barcelona, 2022
"The Sales Girl" Feature Film, Golden Cyclo Award, Vesoul International Film Festival in Asian Cinema, 2023
"The Sales Girl" Feature Film, Purple Mulberry Award, Udine International Film Festival, 2023
"Silent City Driver" Feature Film, Grand Prix, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2024

Former theater lighting technician turned auteur, Sengedorj has helmed more than twenty features since his debut White Night (1998). Highlights include The Sales Girl (Yakushi Pearl Award, Osaka 2022), Silent City Driver (Grand Prix, Tallinn Black Nights 2024), and Silent City Driver—whose lead actor secured the Yakushi Pearl Award at Osaka 2025. He leads SUN Pictures and chairs the Mongolian Film Producers Association, shaping the future of Mongolian cinema.