WHAT: Private pre-release screening of the documentary film, "Daughter of the River" (based on the memoir 《饥饿的女儿》) written and directed by Hong Ying, followed by a discussion with Hong Ying.

WHEN: 3.30 PM (Beijing time) start on Sunday October 25. The film runs for 1hr40mins. The VIP lounge is open to us from 2.30 PM, so please come early for a drink and a chat before the film.

WHERE: Lumière Pavilions, Parkview Green, LG2-26, Parkview Green Building, No. 9 Dongdaqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing. The cinema is on the second lower-ground floor (LG2) of Parkview Green.

北京市朝阳区东大桥路9号侨福芳草地大厦LG2-26 卢米埃影城（侨福芳草地店）

ABOUT THE FILM: In 1997 Hong Ying published Daughter of the River, a memoir of growing up in 1960s Chongqing. It has since been translated into nearly thirty languages. After forty years as a writer, she has turned the book into a documentary. She often filmed alone, cast non-professional actors from her home town, and went back to her mother's birthplace to trace the family story to its roots.

The film covers more than eighty years, from the 1940s to 2024. It begins with Hong Ying's mother, who was sold as a child bride, ran away to wartime Chongqing, and raised a family of eight in two cramped rooms above the Yangtze through the Great Famine. Hong Ying was born in 1962, the child of her mother and a man who had helped the struggling family. It is a personal and unflinching portrait of generations of women who fought to change their fate, and a rare look at 1960s Chongqing.

Under the guidance of China National Film Administration, China Film Group is bringing over one‑hundred Chinese films to the American Film Market this November. Out of these submissions, only four titles have been selected for official market screenings: Once Upon a Time in the Middle‑East (Welcome to Dragon Restaurant), Boonie Bears, Dear Grandma (A Love Letter to Grandma), and Daughter of the River.

MORE ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: Hong Ying began writing poetry at eighteen, studied at the Lu Xun Literary Institute in Beijing and at Fudan University, and moved to London in 1991. She has lived in Beijing since 2000. Her novels include K: The Art of Love, which won Italy's Premio Roma in 2005, Summer of Betrayal, Peacock Cries and The Concubine of Shanghai. Her novel Death in Shanghai became Lou Ye's Saturday Fiction, starring Gong Li, which competed at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. She made her directing debut in 2023 with Moonlight Warrior, a coming-of-age story set in Chongqing. It won a best screenplay award at the Next Generation Indie Film Awards in the US and was screened at the Golden Rooster festival in China. Daughter of the River is her second film as a director, and her first documentary.

HOW MUCH: RMB 150 for members. RMB 250 for non-members. The price includes use of the VIP lounge from 2.30 PM. Alipay may be easier than WeChat Pay, and you can also pay by credit card. Interested in becoming an RASBJ member? Please sign up at http://rasbj.org/membership/​

HOW TO JOIN THE EVENT: Please click "Register" or "I will attend" before noon on Oct. 21 and follow the instructions. You'll receive a confirmation email once you have registered; if it doesn't arrive, please check your spam folder. Only 40 places are available, so early registration is advised and there will likely be a waitlist.

MEMBERS OF PARTNER RAS BRANCHES: Please register 72 hours in advance so we have time to verify your membership. You'll receive three emails from us: the first confirming we received your registration request, the second requesting payment, and the third confirming we received your payment. Registrations not paid for by noon on Oct. 21 will be cancelled.

REFUND POLICY: If RASBJ cancels the event, registrants will be refunded in full.