The Dating Game
Description
In this fascinating documentary, Violet Du Feng (Hidden Letters) looks at the unhappy result of China’s one-child policy in a society that prefers sons. Years after the country abolished the dictate, there are 30 million more men than women. Males, especially those of lower social classes, find it almost impossible to secure a wife. In an era of endemic male loneliness amid a hypercompetitive dating market, enter dating coach Hao. He remakes men in his own brash image, an approach that is a mismatch with some of his clients. At the same time, while women may be armed with greater bargaining power in this bizarre social scenario, they also feel burned by it, some choosing to swear off messy human interaction and find fulfillment instead with the perfection of virtual boyfriends. What Du Feng so intriguingly uncovers is a dystopic picture of a society grappling with a rash policy’s unintended consequences. —Bedatri Choudhury
Biographies
Born and raised in Shanghai, Violet Du Feng now makes her home in New York, where she is both a documentary filmmaker and an adjunct professor at the Journalism School of Columbia University. She began her career as a co-producer on Nanking (2007), the winner of a Peabody Award and an Emmy. She made her feature directing debut with Harbor from the Holocaust (2020), followed by Hidden Letters (2022), which was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Oscar®. She is a 2024 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient.
