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Goodbye, My Dearest Friend Frank

A bromance comedy about a lonely man who develops a relationship with his robot vacuum , and finally finds what he has missed in life...

  • Xianyi Zhang
    Director
  • Xianyi Zhang
    Writer
  • Junyue Wang
    Producer
  • Zichen Shao
    Key Cast
    "Yang Bai"
  • Shan Liu
    Key Cast
    "Fei Xu"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    再见，我的好伙伴弗兰克
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 47 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 19, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    55,000 CNY
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Language:
    Chinese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes
Director Biography - Xianyi Zhang

Xianyi Zhang was born in Shanghai, China. When she was a child, she stared to know lots of films and music under the influence of her elder brother. During high school, she was gradually exposed to more independent films and different types of music. She especially loves black comedy and rock music, which also influenced her a lot in her views and creative style. At that time, she didn’t consider of film-making as a future career. After high school, she was admitted into Industrial Design at Shanghai University. This didn’t stop her passion for films for sure. She has watched lots of movies in college. She could always inspired by life details and wrote down some scripts and stories, and shared with friends. She worked as a project manager in a design studio after graduation. During one year working experience, she has met some art short film makers and worked and communicated with them, which made her realize that the current job couldn’t help her for self-realization. She wants to share her vision to the world by films. So she decided to quit her job.

She applied for Shanghai Vancouver Film School and was admitted into Film Production Program. The intense study and work in SHVFS made her fully get involved, which also helped her to systematize all that she had learned about film making. During SHVFS FP program, she had been in many short films programs, and had written own scripts. She loves to observe the details in life, and makes it into film with self-deprecating humour. Thanks to her unique vision, ‘Goodbye, My Dearest Friend Frank’ passed final pitches and was finally selected as a final project of SHVFS.

Currently, she is preparing or her next short film and directing music video for her friends’ band. She is also working on writing her first feature film script.

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Director Statement

‘Goodbye My Dearest Friend Frank’ is a bromance comedy about a lonely man who develops a weird relationship with his robot vacuum, with the help of which, finally finds what he has missed in life. It is a film about self-discovering.

I was born in Shanghai and have been living here for most of the time in my life. I feel that the fast paced life is too stressful for people to have time for their inner selves. Even though I talk with many people and be in the crowd, sometimes I still feel alone, and isolated. And sometimes we are pushed forward, instead of stop to think about what we really need. I choose to talk about the theme of lost and loneliness, combining comedy elements, which shows a different perspective to tell the story. I believe that people will find personal connection in this film and feel involved and touched by it.

I want to create a world between a man and a vacuum cleaning robot with scene of humor and self-deprecating, to show the loneliness, and awkwardness and growth of the character. I love the idea to make Frank, the robot vacuum, a real character, and give it a human personality. Certain lines and reaction are designed for Frank when it starts working or get in troubles, which makes it coincidentally communicate with the character. Or maybe, these are not all coincidences. I have to admit that it is a love story. And the most romantic part is that Frank is not like the latest or scientific AI. However it is smarter than a chair, or a pen, which makes it tricky- does it really have emotion, or not.

I made this story for love, and for everyone. Anyone may feel lonely, isolated, awkward or just bored in his/her life somehow, more or less. I not only want to make the audience moved and amused by it, but also find courage of life in this pure and beautiful film. As long as there’s love in our heart, we will find a way out of all difficulties.