Private Project

Jeju Blue

After returning to China for three years, Shanghai-based independent filmmaker Gao Junjie finally embarks on his first overseas trip - to Jeju to visit his college friend Edward. Upon landing, he walks straight into Edward's emotional crisis: having moved to Jeju in pursuit of artistic freedom and lower living costs, Edward is now in Seoul. Their uncertainty about the future has brought the topic of marriage to the forefront. Throughout the trip, Gao tries every possible way to help Edward navigate his turmoil, only to realize how little he truly understands him under the Korean context.

  • Hanyu Hu
    Director
  • Hanyu Hu
    Writer
  • Alice Yu
    Producer
  • Hanyu Hu
    Key Cast
    "Junjie Gao"
  • Sangkoo Suh
    Key Cast
    "Edward"
  • YoungSang Jo
    Key Cast
    "Jiwan"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    25 minutes 43 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 26, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    2,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    China
  • Country of Filming:
    South Korea
  • Language:
    Chinese, English, Korean
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Hanyu Hu

Hanyu Hu is an Indie Filmmaker, illustrator and podcaster, who graduated from Indiana University Digital Art BFA, California College of the Arts Film MFA. Used to work in BIE (Vice China) making videos and writing self-tilted columns. He started by making a low-budget film Rock'n'Roll Kungfu, and won 2018's CMF Jury Award. During the pandemic, he non-stopped making animations and won the best character design at MIFW Film Fest in 2021 with his Cat Trip. His film Lost In Shanghai won the 2023 HiShorts the best growing director award.

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Director Statement

This film was inspired by a trip I took to Jeju in 2024. Five years after graduation, I reunited with a college friend and saw firsthand the challenges he was facing as an adult. In that moment, I realized - he was no longer the friend I used to goof around with in the U.S. college. The thought struck me: He is a Korean. That simple sentence lingered in my mind and eventually became the seed of this project - a story about how we inevitably become East Asian grown-ups. This film shares the same worldview with my last short Lost in Shanghai, but it is a completely standalone story. It aims to explore the authentic lives of young people across different parts of the world. To capture that rawness, I adopted a mumblecore style, with a focus on naturalism in both performance and dialogue.