Real wonder women

A young film festival in China is seeking to grow while fighting stock gender portrayals in popular culture. Satarupa Bhattacharjya reports.

The China Women's Film Festival opened in Beijing on Saturday, with dozens of female filmmakers from home and abroad prepared to screen their work over the next few days at different venues in the city, including on university campuses. In its fifth year, the annual event aims to provide a platform for independent cinema on women. This year's festival is showing at least 45 foreign and Chinese films under seven sections covering topics such as violence and discrimination against women, the LGBT community, female innovators and gender stereotypes. A special "Chinese competition" section has 15 entries, of which, two are from Hong Kong and the rest from the mainland.

Gender equality, along with fighting poverty and climate change, were among 17 sustainable development goals set for 2030 by member countries of the United Nations in 2015.