Nightgirl 2001

Directed by Ma Yingli

Ma Yingli's documentary, produced as part of Kroma Films' "Girls Around the World" series, presents the poignant story of Han Lin, a 17-year old girl prematurely made to enter into the workforce as a Go-Go dancer in order to help her family eke out a living in modern-day Beijing. Born at the center of the metropolis, on the surface Lin is an ordinary girl from a traditional Chinese family; upon closer inspection, though, she is mature beyond her years and faces an enormous burden of responsibility unfamiliar to most young women in the West.