DNA Dreams

The Beijing Genomics Institute delves into the genetic code in search of the stuff from which geniuses are made.

What if we could identify the genes for human intelligence? Would a brave new world of improved human beings be waiting for us? The documentary DNA Dreams features a new generation of scientists at BGI, China’s leading genomics research institute. The film follows eighteen-year-old Zhao Bowen, who wants to find the genetic basis of intelligence by analysing the DNA of 2,000 highly gifted children. At BGI’s cloning lab, twenty-five-year-old Lin Lin produces pigs in all shapes and forms. Deeply in love with her work, she feels ‘like a mother’ to the piglets that are conceived under her microscope.