A painter's encounter with a wolf cub

Li with the wolf in the documentary, Return to the Wolves.

Teaming up with Yi Feng, one of her friends and the producer of the documentary, Li spent five years to make the 98-minute documentary from more than 1,000 hours of video clips.

"I lived with Green for 10 months. We did not deliberately guide him to follow orders, just recorded his natural moments and edited them for the feature," says Li during a Beijing event to promote the movie.

Li saw Green again in a video clip sent by locals from the grassland just a few days ago, as she was promoting the film in Shenzhen.

"The last time I saw Green was in 2014. He was accompanied by a female and a cub," recalls Li, adding that she believes an emotional connection between her and the wolf still exists.

Zhao Zhongxiang, a host best known for his hit TV program Animal World, says the documentary is a story which will raise public awareness about preserving nature and saving wildlife.

"Humans have always had a sort of love-hate relationship with wolves, whether in Europe, North America or China. The film is a good attempt to resolve the misunderstandings about wolves. I hope it will teach people more about nature," says Zhao.