While casting for a television remake (with partial gender reversal) of Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, director Vera (Engel) coolly plays emotional games with her potential female leads and, in particular, with actor Gerwin (Lust). Invoking other great films about the filmmaking process including Truffaut’s Day for Night and Fassbinder’s Beware of a Holy Whore, Casting is “every bit as complex in its mapping of the emotional dynamics between volatile artists and wannabes, every bit as funny, engaging and, here and there, wrenching” (David Hudson, Fandor).

This gorgeous and thoughtful documentary by the director of Beijing Taxi follows two affluent and cosmopolitan Chinese high schoolers as they adjust to life at a small boarding school in rural Maine. Part of the enormous wave of "parachute students" from China enrolling in U.S. private schools, bubbly, fun-loving Stella and introspective Harry come seeking a Western-style education, escape from the dreaded Chinese college entrance exam, and the promise of a Hollywood-style U.S. high school experience. As the students fuzzy visions of the American dream slowly gain more clarity, they ruminate on their experiences of alienation, culture clash and personal identity, sharing new understandings and poignant discourses on home and country. After the sreening, a discussion via Skype with Director Miao Wang. Screening with the support of the 2018 Asian-American Media Spotlight. (LKL)