Goodbye First Love

Director   Huang Shuli
Country   USA
Year   2024
Languages   Mandarin
Genre   Docu-fiction
Running Time   13 min

He pays him a visit in Frankfurt during his work trip in Europe. He talks about their time in Beijing, back in 2015. He listens and, sometimes, answers, unblurring those seemingly important details, which do not matter any longer. Worn-out joy and fresh weariness. This could be the last time they see each other.

Director’s Statement

One autumn afternoon in 2022, I was on the train to Frankfurt, to visit Simu, a friend I hadn’t seen since my teenage years. I had never been to Germany or Frankfurt. The scenery outside the train window was totally fresh and unfamiliar, yet the feeling of arriving at a foreign land in search of someone from your past was way too familiar and dear to me.

I started writing the script on the train as I was arriving in Frankfurt and decided to cast Simu and myself. And fortunately, I had a small DVCam with me.

We spent an afternoon together, rehearsing, conversing, revisiting some blurred moments of lives in front of the camera, and the film, to us, is a souvenir.

Director’s Bio

Huang Shuli (he/him)

Shuli Huang is a Chinese writer-director and cinematographer living in New York City.

His second short film, WILL YOU LOOK AT ME (2022), premiered at the 61st Semaine de la Critique where it was awarded Queer Palm of Festival de Cannes 2022, and went on to win Short Film Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival 2023. GOODBYE FIRST LOVE (2024), his latest short film will premiere in competition at Berlinale shorts 2024.

He has also worked as cinematographer on several feature films, including FAREWELL, MY HOMETOWN (2021), which received the New Currents Award at Busan International Film Festival 2021, and BORROWED TIME (2023), selected for International Film Festival Rotterdam 2024.

Shuli studied cinematography at the Beijing Film Academy and film directing in the Graduate Film Program at New York University.