THE DREAM FACTORY
(甲方乙方)
dir. Feng Xiaogang, 1997
China. 90 min.
In Mandarin with English subtitles.

SATURDAY, MARCH 1 – 10 PM
THURSDAY, MARCH 6 – 10 PM
MONDAY, MARCH 17 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, MARCH 31 – 7:30 PM

Four friends in Beijing set up a company that offers a unique service: For a small fee, they’ll impersonate any character or act out any role so that their customer’s wildest fantasies can be brought to life. As the company grows in popularity, so too does the range of oddball customers they encounter, giving them an unusual perspective on people’s circumstances and granting them new insight into the human condition in the process.

The second feature from filmmaker Feng Xiaogeng (YOUTH) is the ultimate (quite literally) wish fulfillment story. Over the course of seven “clients”, Feng explores various hopes, dreams, and fears of mainland audiences with healthy doses of humor, wisdom, and warmth. The film became a commercial hit with Chinese audiences and helped popularize the Lunar New Year movie trend outside of Hong Kong.