This year, the female-themed section "Voices of Women" has become one of the highlights at the 10th anniversary of the Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF), scheduled from August 22 to August 29.

The "Voices of Women" section included a total of nine female-centered movies from China and abroad, including Kim Ji-young: Born in 1982, a South Korean movie that sparked heated discussion on women last year. What makes the section a hit at this year's BJIFF?

Themed "In Pursuit of a Shared Dream," the "Beijing Film Panorama" is divided into four parts: online screenings, TV screenings, cinema screenings, and outdoor screenings. More than 100 Chinese and foreign films are being shown offline in 18 Beijing cinemas under 12 sections during the eight-day run.

When the offline tickets for BJIFF screening started selling tickets on August 19, over 72 percent of tickets were sold out in just 10 minutes. Like the Dyer's Hand and Wet Season are the most popular films under the Voices of Women section, according to organizers.

According to a poll on CGTN's social media platforms, over 39 percent of Twitter users and 36 percent of Weibo users chose the female-themed section as their favorite screening section in this year's BJIFF.

"For previous film festivals, we often chose some mature, strong, and respective female figures. But this year we've chosen many complicated figures, including weak, strong and wise ones," Jiang Yi, one of the curators of the 10th BJIFF said during an interview with CGTN.

Jiang added that when curators choose films for female-themed section, they wanted to convey a key message to the audience – the "Voices of Women" is not "a sound," and it doesn't simply come from an individual, it's a chord.

Jiang said that female-centered movies received much attention in recent years, and the BJIFF aims to let the audience understand women from different perspectives.

"If you enter the cinema, you will find deeper connections with women and those films," she added. 

Videographers: Ge Shimo, Liu Hui, Zhou Yiqiu

Video editors: Ge Shimo, Liu Hui

Animation: Ma Zhiyuan

Cover image: Liu Shaozhen

Project manager: Deng Junfang

Supervisor: Zhang Shilei