With director Miao Wang in person

Dir. Miao Wang. 2017, 90 mins. Digital projection. Filmed over three years in China and the United States, acclaimed director Miao Wang presents a multi-layered coming-of-age tale that follows two affluent and cosmopolitan 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, bubbly, fun-loving Stella and introspective Harry come seeking a Western-style education and Hollywoodized high school experience. As they encounter homesickness and a more nuanced understanding of the American dream, Wang and ace cinematographer Sean Price Williams let the camera fully register those complications, steering clear of simplified portraiture to instead fashion a film as exploratory and sensitive as that of their brave and tentative young subjects.

"Astute and absorbing. Maineland takes up a large and complicated set of topics—the global economy, the shifting relations between East and West, the commodification of American education—and addresses them with understated delicacy."—A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Tickets: $15 ($11 seniors and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / free for children under 3 and Museum members at the Film Lover and Kids Premium levels and above). Order tickets online. (Members may contact [email protected] with questions regarding online reservations.)

Ticket purchase includes same-day admission to the Museum (see gallery hours). View the Museum’s ticketing policy here. For more information on membership and to join online, visit our membership page.