The Dating Game

The Dating Game

Set in China, where eligible men outnumber women by over 30 million, The Dating Game is
the story of Zhou, Li, and Wu, three bachelors embarking on a seven-day dating camp, led by
Hao, one of China’s most sought-after dating coaches. In their last-ditch effort to find love, the
bachelors chuckle and bond as Hao makes them over, altering how they look and act
online—and in real life. It’s all part of Hao’s signature “strategic deception,” a series of
techniques designed to, purportedly, make humans connect. Hao’s credentials? Hao
successfully wooed Wen, a stylish, educated city-girl—a real catch who is now his wife.

As our three bachelors stumble through the camp’s awkward challenges, they try to make
sense of their authentic and constructed selves, and find the self-confidence they need to land
that date.

The Dating Game is, on the surface, a whimsical romp through courtship in the digital age, but
it also reveals the social challenges that leave us questioning how we seek human connection.

Conversation with director Violet Du Feng following the screening.

Violet is an Emmy-winning filmmaker and an adjunct professor at Columbia University. She has directed, produced, and executive produced 14 documentaries, including the Oscar-shortlisted, Peabody and Emmy-nominated Hidden Letters with broadcast in 15 countries; Harbor From the Holocaust, a CPB/PBS special film with music performed by Yo-yo Ma. Her producing credits include Night of Nights, Dear Mother, I Meant to Write About Death, Singing in the Wilderness, Confucian Dream, Maineland and Please Remember Me. She is a recipient of the 2024 Chicken and Egg Award, 2023 Sundance Momentum Fellowship, 2021 Rockwood JustFilms Fellowship and 2018 Sundance Creative Producing Fellowship. Violet has served as an advisor for Sundance’s Creative Producing Lab, AIDC, CAAM, Hot Docs, Doc Edge, CNEX and the Shanghai Film Festival. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in the Documentary Branch.