Join the National Committee’s Young China Professionals and Young China Watchers NY for the screening of MAINELAND, a multi-layered coming-of-age tale that follows two affluent and cosmopolitan Chinese teenagers as they settle into a boarding school in blue-collar rural Maine.
Part of the enormous wave of “parachute students” from China enrolling in U.S. private schools, 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 Stella and Harry’s 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.
Following the end of the screening, the film’s director, Miao Wang, will join a panel discussion on the making of the film and Chinese students studying in the United States.
