A filmmaker shares his experience in the once-lucrative business of hiring foreigners to lure homebuyers in China’s building boom. On stage, David Borenstein assumed many identities. He’s been a “celebrated clarinetist,” a member of the “famous” American band The Travelers, and at one point, an Olympic athlete. His audience—local Chinese officials, investors, and potential homebuyers—watched in awe and cheered even though he, by his own admission, wasn’t very good. But skills never mattered. What did matter was that Borenstein was, without a doubt, a foreigner. As a twentysomething Miami native living in Chongqing during China’s housing boom in the early 2010s, he took on these “white monkey gigs” to pay for film classes. He performed with other foreigners at events organized by real estate companies to sell property in brand new, shiny cities—ones that would quickly become ghost cities, sitting empty not even a decade later. Though, “perform” is a bit of a stretch; in some cases, he was paid to show up in a suit and look … well, white. Borenstein is what the Chinese call a laowai-for-rent, and at the time, he was a hot commodity. Now a filmmaker in Copenhagen, Borenstein is gearing up for the U.S. premiere of his latest film “Dream Empire” at the Miami Film Festival next week. The film documents his experience in the industry, and that of Yana, a migrant worker who started a company renting out foreigners like him. Like the developers who made up her clientele, Yana banked her success…more detail
