This article was originally published in  ChinaFile  and is republished here with the permission of the author. On the popular Chinese social media platform Xia

Violet Du Feng has produced and directed more than a dozen documentary films about China. Her latest is The Dating Game, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Filmed in Chongqing, the film follows a group of desperate bachelors participating in a dating “boot camp.”In this Q&A, Feng talks about how a film about women inspired her to make a film about men, the