A First Farewell

China | 86 minutes | 2018 | Fiction | Uyghur, Mandarin | English and Chinese Subtitles | PG
中国｜86分钟｜2018｜虚构｜维吾尔语、普通话｜中英文字幕｜PG
Toronto Premiere 多伦多首映

Deep in northwestern China, surrounded by cotton fields and desert, lies the Uyghur village that Isa calls home. When he is not at school or working on his parents‘ farmyard, he spends carefree days with his friends – until the outside world starts forcing him to say one goodbye after another. With Isa’s mother‘s illness placing an increasing burden on the family, his father considers putting her in a care home, far away from the village. Isa‘s best friend Kalbinur is getting bad grades, and is about to be sent to a faraway Chinese school. And then the little lamb, which the two children had been looking after with devotion ever since it was born, disappears. Captured in naturalistic imagery, winter closes in on Isa‘s world.

新疆沙雅，胡杨林三千年不死、三千年不朽，人生与之相较不过一瞬。男孩艾萨与女孩凯丽青梅竹马，一个须照顾失智失语的母亲，另一个苦恼于汉语成绩。母亲走失是小小年纪便要承受的痛，上学迟到挨批评是泪珠滚滚的重。在这片苍茫的土地上看星辰流转，从未想过长大是一场又一场的告别，直到那些最爱我们的、和我们最爱的，教会我们。

WANG Lina was born in the Uighur region in Xinjiang in 1987 and studied at the Communication University of China. A First Farewell is her debut film and a poetic piece dedicated to her hometown.

After 6 months of field research and a year of documenting, she and her crew spent two years stationed in Shaya, Xinjiang shooting the film. The film is a perfect combination of reality, poetry and story.

王丽娜导演是新疆沙雅人，中国传媒大学硕士。她的长片处女作《第一次的离别》是献给故乡的一首长诗。

在经过半年的田野考察与一年的纪录片跟踪拍摄，并组建故事片团队后再用两年时间驻地拍摄，她完成了这部现实性、诗意性、故事性完美结合的作品。