If you ever felt like a misfit or outsider in high school, You Were My First Boyfriend is essential and therapeutic viewing.
In this inventive, emotional roller coaster of a documentary, filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo reexamines her high school years through methods both playful (animations of diaries about her adolescent crush or recreating scenes from My So Called Life with her current husband) and visceral (the violence of cultural assimilation and the regrets of lost friendships). As uncomfortable (and hilariously ridiculous) as it is for Aldarondo to revisit some of the lowest moments of her youth, the film (codirected by Sarah Enid Hagey) becomes a way to honor the often-overlooked interior lives of teenage girls—and a way to heal. You Were My First Boyfriend will come alive with an audience, so don’t miss this rare chance to see it in a theater before its HBO premiere later this year. And the conversation with Aldarondo after the screening is sure to be a lively one! (91 mins., DCP)
Cecilia Aldarondo’s previous feature, Landfall, played at the all-virtual Unorthodocs in 2020.
See the complete Unorthodocs 2023 lineup.
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You Were My First Boyfriend, courtesy of HBO Documentary Films.
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Program Support
FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
National Endowment for the Arts
Ohio Humanities
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Rohauer Collection Foundation
WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Ohio Department of Development
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Wexner Family
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Ohio Arts Council
CampusParc
Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme
The Columbus Foundation
Nationwide Foundation
Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
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Axium Packaging
Nancy Kramer
Ohio State Energy Partners
Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection
Larry and Donna James
Bruce and Joy Soll
Jones Day
Alex and Renée Shumate
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You Were My First Boyfriend