Playing important roles both behind and in front of the camera, women in the film industry gathered in the tropical city of Sanya in China's Hainan Province on Tuesday to discuss women in filmmaking. 

Actress and producer Liang Jing, who attended the forum, said that she’s happy women’s strength and contribution in the film industry are being recognized.

“I do feel happy that women’s self-awareness is becoming stronger. When it comes to the film industry, many people are paying attention to the important role of women in this field. That is really encouraging,” she said.

Liang is one of the most influential women in Chinese film circles. She is the producer behind the war epic "The Eight Hundred.” It tells the true story of hundreds of Chinese soldiers facing off against the mightier Japanese army in a small warehouse in Shanghai. Directed by Guan Hu, it was Asia's first commercial film shot entirely with IMAX cameras. The movie raked in over $476 million in the box office, making it the highest grossing film this year in China.

"Women have different points of view from men. Sometimes, that leads to very different results. Take the film 'The Eight Hundred' for example, it was a very traditional men's war film. But I advised the director to try and think from a woman's perspective. After about 40 rounds of adaption, the final version we presented to the audience proved to be very popular, especially among female audiences who are not [usually] the target audience for war films," she said.

Liang also called attention to the number of females in the industry. “I’ve attended many film forums and competitions and read lots of original movie scripts in recent years. I’d say over half of the winners are female directors, writers and producers,” she said.

“That was also the situation at the recently concluded  "market project" at the Golden Rooster Awards. That made the chairmen of the project, director Huang Jianxin, director Xu Zheng and actor Andy Lau, yell ‘Where are the male directors’,” said Liang.

(Cover image by Zhang Zhijie)