RUNDOWN:
18:00     Registration and Drinks reception
18:30     Opening remarks
18:35     Screening
20:10     Post-Screening Talk
20:45     Q&A
21:15     End

ASHK member price: HKD80
Non-member price: HKD120

In late 2021, M on the Bund announced it would be closing its doors after twenty-three years. The restaurant had led a fine-dining renaissance in Shanghai, with flare, daring simplicity and a personal touch. Along the way, it had built a community of diners and artists, reinvigorated a neighbourhood, and defied the odds to outlive its competitors and imitators. In a city defined by change and rapid reinvention, it had become an institution.

Over the course of two months, we follow the team behind M on the Bund as they navigate the highs and lows of a restaurant in its final days, uncovering the memories, legacy and community it leaves in its wake.

At the heart of the story is Michelle Garnaut, a girl from Melbourne who became a towering figure in China. Straight-talking and driven, she challenged expectations and a male-dominated industry; a self-made woman who made waves with her unique sensibility and eye for business.

Her restaurant sat at the centre of Shanghai’s meteoric rise, a remarkable journey in China’s global city that reflects the changing geo-politics of the new millennium, and captures a vision of transnational community in challenging times.

Featuring never-before-seen archive, exclusive behind-the scenes access, and as-it-happens moments, captured in 4K.

After four decades leading the M Restaurant Group in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, Michelle Garnaut AO left the restaurant industry in 2022. She is now focused on social impact, supporting founders and new ventures, and mentoring women through Mentor Walks and the FT Women in Business Asia Forum. She remains active in discussion on feminist issues and geopolitical questions as they relate to China and broader Asia.

The M Restaurant Group ran for 35 years. M at the Fringe opened in Hong Kong in 1989, quickly followed by M on the Bund in 1999, The Glamour Bar in 2006 and, later, Capital M in Beijing in 2009. Ms Garnaut’s restaurants earned her praise from Time magazine as ‘the pioneer of China’s fashionable dining scene’, and her contributions to cultural life in China are equally celebrated. She conceived the Shanghai and Capital Literary Festivals, the Shanghai Chamber Music Festival and Competition, and the M Literary Residency, as well as founding the Village People Project and championing Mentor Walks in Beijing and Shanghai.

In 2018, Ms Garnaut was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia for ‘distinguished service to Australia-China relations as a restaurateur and entrepreneur, to the promotion of Australian food, film and design, as a supporter of literary and cultural programs, and as a role model.’ She is the recipient of many further international honours from the Advance Global Australian Awards, the Women of Influence Awards, and the ANZ Australian Business Awards, and the Australian state of Victoria.

Luo Tong has been producing and directing documentaries since 2002. She has been the driving force behind a number of successful independent films, including A Farewell Song (2007), The Poseidon Project (2013) and A City Sets Sail (2022). Her feature directorial debut, Shanghai Girls, was completed in 2023. Her latest film, M on the Bund premiered in 2024.

She is the producer of the acclaimed and award-winning documentary The Six (2021) which tells the story of the Chinese survivors of RMS Titanic. Executive produced by James Cameron, The Six picked up prizes at major festivals around the world, including Vancouver International Film Festival, Beijing International Film Festival and the Chinese Academy Awards For Documentary Film. It has been theatrically distributed and broadcast in China, Japan, Australia, Europe and UK, and received positive reviews in The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and The Guardian.

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