The One International Women's Film Festival 2019, China's first and only official international women-themed film festival, opened its third annual event in Chengdu, the capital city of southwestern Sichuan Province on Thursday. 

The rising power of female-themed films

Over 30 films are vying for recognition in the festival, whose name was inspired the Chinese saying "one mountain, one world," which according to the festival website, means "to call on women to pursue their own independence and improve their self-dialogue ability." 

The films will compete under seven categories: "Women Rock the World," "Chinese Women Power," "Superwomen," "We Love Women," "Spirit of Feminism," "Vision from the Belt and Road" and "National Heroine." Two special awards,  the "Independent Spirit Award" and "Mass Select Award,"  which will be handed out following a selection by the organizing committee and the audience.

Understanding the need to equip female writers and directors with the tools for success, the One International Women's Film Festival 2019 also has workshops and forums to help would-be filmmakers go about planning, filming and film distributing. The festival also provides a platform for investors to fund more new directors through projects such as the 2019 One Project. 

More stories about women

The festival opened with the film "Spring Tide," starring well-known actress Hao Lei. The movie tells the story of three women: the protagonist Guo Jianbo, Guo's mother and her daughter and discusses the themes of mother-daughter relationships and the female identity in the family unit.

"This movie has resonated with many audiences, and they feel that it's connected to their life,"  said Hao Lei, an actress. 

Excellent films on women's issues are getting increasing attention this year. The ambassador of the One Women's Film Festival is actress and philanthropist Yao Chen, who is also a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees national goodwill ambassador for China and regarded as "China's answer to Angelina Jolie." 

Yao Chen has been in quite a few movies about women, such as "Send Me to the Clouds" which was released on August 16 this year. This low-budget movie grossed about 30 million yuan and is still showing in theaters. Directed by female writer-director Teng Congcong, "Send Me to the Clouds" tells the story of Sheng Nan, a 29-year-old female journalist who has ovarian cancer and has to face her own mortality.

Yao wrote a letter to the festival and posted it on her Weibo account, which has 83 million followers. 

"When a movie is defined as a female movie, it seems like people think it would be unpopular and won't achieve commercial success, which is a misunderstanding for female movies," she wrote. "It's important to have more diversity in the movie market."

Yao's post was "liked" 7,400 times, and one netizen commented, "I don't want to be tagged as a 'woman' all the time; I want to be treated equally.” 

The festival will run through September 26.

(Cover image by Gao Hongmei)