Leftover Women

In China, unmarried women over the age of 27 are deemed “sheng nu” or “leftover”. As an effect of the now-defunct one-child policy there are 30 million more men than women, leaving single women under immense social pressures to marry, and fast, or be rejected from society. Public dating contests, “marriage markets” where city sidewalks are lined with parents advertising their children’s attributes, and government-sponsored matchmaking festivals are just some of the humiliating ordeals that single women face. This eye-opening documentary follows three women in their gruelling quest to find a husband, weighing the cost of family and society’s approval against their own chances of happiness.

UK Advisory (12A)

Filmmaker(s):

Shosh Shlam, Hilla Medalia

Country of Production:

Israel

Year:

2019

84m

Language(s):

Mandarin, Fully subtitled in English

Genre:

Documentary

Filmmaker Bio(s):

Shosh Shlam

Co-Director

Shosh Shlam, an award winning director and producer, whose critically acclaimed documentaries have been screened internationally in theaters and on television including BBC, ARTE, ZDF, PBS. Her work combines sensitive intimate observation of human nature with a deep research and social criticism. Shosh's films include Last Journey Into Silence 2003 (Krakow Film Festival), Be Fruitful And Multiply 2007 (ZDf), Good Garbage 2010 (Shanghai Film Festival), Web Junkie 2014 (Sundance Film Festival, CPH, POV (PBS), BBC), Leftover Women 2019 ( Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs, Independent Lens (PBS).
Shosh graduated from the theatre department in Tel Aviv University, studied in the School of Visual Arts in New York and holds a Master of Comparative Literature from Bar Ilan University.

Hilla Medalia

Co-Director

Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Hilla Medalia has received three Emmy® nominations. Her projects have garnered critical acclaim and screened internationally in theaters and on television including HBO, MTV, BBC and ARTE. Among her range of titles include To Die in Jerusalem 2007 (HBO), After the Storm 2009 (MTV), Numbered 2012 (ARTE), Dancing in Jaffa 2013 (Tribeca, IFC Sundance selects), Web Junkie 2014 (Sundance Film Festival, POV (PBS), BBC) The Go Go Boys 2014 (Cannes Film Festival), Censored Voices 2015, (Sundance Film Festival and Berlinale), Muhi – Generally Temporary 2017 (San Francisco Film Festival, HotDocs, AFI, Docaviv). Medalia holds a Master of Arts from Southern Illinois University.

Distributor:

MetFilm Sales

Film Website:

Film website

Presented in partnership with:

“Leftover Women is an intimate portrait of three educated and independent Chinese women who want to love and live a life on their own terms, and their struggle against a society that places filial piety above anything else and sees women’s paramount value as being in a marriage.”

Yaqiu Wang, China Researcher, Human Rights Watch

To learn more on this topic visit HRW.org