Vino Vérité: THE DATING GAME
Schedule
Sun, 01 Feb, 2026 at 07:00 pm
UTC-06:00Location
FilmScene (at The Chauncey) | Iowa City, IA
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Presented by Bread Garden Market, Little Village, and FilmSceneDIALOGUE: Filmmaker Violet Du Feng in person
Vino Vérité welcomes its first return guest! Violet Du Feng (Hidden Letters), embraces the humor and heartbreak of three young men, and one bombastic dating coach, looking for love on China's ultra-competitive dating scene.
The Vino Vérité series features talented new voices and established filmmakers influenced by the vérité tradition in person to present their thought-provoking, chance-taking, and visually-arresting films. Each selection is paired with hand-selected wines from Bread Garden Market.
Tickets: $25 public / $20 members / $12 students.
Includes wine tasting, film, hors d'oeuvres and filmmaker reception.
6:30 Hors d'oeuvres & wine tasting
7:00 Screening
8:45 Q&A + Reception with filmmaker, wine and dessert
"In an openly phony world, who cares about being genuine? The Dating Game captures that idea in deceptively chilling fashion." — New York Magazine/Vulture
"An illuminating look at a superpower in the throes of a burgeoning cultural catastrophe— and of a few of its myriad desperate-for-love men." — The Daily Beast
"One of the best films to explore the connections between personal and political... with compassion, a sense of humor, and quiet observation." — RogerEbert.com
ABOUT THE DATING GAME
It’s not easy being a man in today’s China. At least not if you want a wife. Zhou, Li and Wu are among the 30 million men who outnumber women in China because of the decades-long one-child policy. In this the fiercely competitive, unbalanced dating market, any extra edge matters. To improve their loves prospects, the three bachelors turn to an intensive seven-day dating course with Hao, one of China’s most sought-after dating coaches. Hao's approach is anything but subtle, and he immediately makes over the three with new looks, new attitudes and new pick-up lines in a relentless online and real-life pursuit of an elusive match. But Hao could use some advice of his own, as his hyper-masculine approach begins to wear on his own marriage. All four men must reexamine their constructed personas and find confidence in their authentic selves for any hope at a real love connection. Whimsical and absurd, but always heartfelt, The Dating Game is a crowd-pleasing tragicomedy about China's peculiar dating scene and our universal quest for human connection.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Violet Du Feng is an Emmy® Award-winning independent documentarian. She is a Documentary branch member of AMPAS, an adjunct professor at the Journalism School of Columbia University and the recipient of the 2024 Chicken & Egg Award. Violet directed and produced the Oscar® Shortlisted Hidden Letters, which premiered in competition at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, won ten international festival awards, and was broadcast in more than 15 countries. Violet has directed, produced, and executive produced more than ten films over the past decade, with a career that began on the critically acclaimed 2007 film Nanking, which won a Sundance Special Jury Award, a Peabody Award, and an Emmy® Award. Her debut feature Harbor From The Holocaust (2020) was broadcasted as a PBS/CPB special program, with music performed by Yo-Yo Ma. Born and raised in Shanghai, Violet is currently based in New York City.
Sundance Film Festival (2025) — Grand Jury Prize Nominee
True/False Film Festival (2025) — Official Selection
Sheffield DocFest (2025) — Official Selection
Documentary Edge (2025) — Best International Feature Winner
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Where is it happening?
FilmScene (at The Chauncey), 404 E College St.,Iowa City, Iowa, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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