FRANCIS BUCHANAN HAMILTON (1762-1829) was a Scottish surgeon, surveyor and botanist, who spent extended periods travelling and living in Asia between 1780s and 1815. While preparing for his medical degree at the University of Edinburgh, he had also studied botany as many medicines were derived from plants. The botanical drawings presented in this new film were commissioned during Buchanan Hamilton’s first expedition to the Kathmandu Valley in 1802 and are the first ones to be produced of plants from Nepal.
Concept: Sonya Schönberger
Text based on conversations with Claire Banks and Mark Watson, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Camera: Christof Zwiener
Voice over: Ben Cook
Sound editing: Norbert Lang
With thanks to The Linnean Society London
London/Berlin 2019