Modern Love in China: The Dating Game

A new documentary, which recently premiered at Sundance, is coming to our festival in March.

China’s one-child policy created a massive gender imbalance in the country. The result? Millions of men struggling to find a partner in a ruthless dating landscape.

We meet three such men in “The Dating Game,” a recent documentary by Emmy-winning American filmmaker Violet Du Feng and co-produced by Norwegian Ten Thousand Images with Mette Cheng Munte-Kaas. Ten Thousand Images also co-produced Du Feng’s Oscar-shortlisted documentary “Hidden Letters” (screened at Human in 2023).

“The Dating Game” depicts an epidemic of loneliness affecting China, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23 of this year. Following its premiere, the film received rave reviews. Screen Daily described it as follows:

“An insightful, appealing film touches movingly on the human need for connection, and should receive a warm reception from audiences and distributors following its premiere in Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary competition.”

That’s why we are excited to announce that “The Dating Game” will be coming to the Human International Documentary Film Festival in March! Together with the film “Mistress Dispeller”, which we published in December, we are focusing on modern love in China.

The Dating Game

Director: Violet Du Feng

“The Dating Game” is the story of Zhou, Li and Wu, three bachelors who embark on an intense seven-day dating camp, led by Hao, one of China’s most sought-after dating coaches. Hao attempts to transform the bachelors: he changes their appearance and their behavior, both online and in real life. The three bachelors stumble through the embarrassing challenges of the dating camp, while also trying to find the confidence they need to land a date.

We can’t wait to show “The Dating Game”!

The rest of the program will be released continuously, so stay tuned to the website and Facebook and Instagram for all the information. Remember to sign up for the newsletter to get all the news first!

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