6TH EDITION ★ MARCH 2025 ★ GHENT
Shosh Shlam & Hilla Medalia
Documentary
Leftover Women
2019
Qiu Hua Mei is 34 and a successful lawyer. Xu Min is 28 and works for a public radio station. Gai Qi is 36 and an assistant professor at Normal University in Beijing. Despite their thriving careers they still live with the derogatory label "sheng nu". The phrase, translated as "leftover women", is an unflattering term used across China for educated, professional women over the age of 27 who have failed to find a husband. With 30 million more men than women, the social stability of China is under threat, and single women are perceived as both the source and the solution of the problem, but how do modern Chinese women balance what’s expected of them, and what they want for themselves?
93 min
Chinese, Hebrew, German
About the Directors
Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia, the award-winning filmmakers behind the critically acclaimed documentary 'Web Junkie' (Sundance 2014), which brought international attention to internet addicted teens in China, have reunited to examine another 21st century Chinese phenomenon, shining a bright and unflinching light on the true stories of these ""leftover women"". Shosh Shlam is best known for her directing and producing credits for award-winning documentaries such as 'Good Garbage' (2008), 'Last Journey Into Silence' (2003), and 'Be Fruitful and Multiply' (2005). Hilla Medalia is a Peabody Award-winning filmmaker and producer who has received three Emmy nominations. Her projects have garnered critical acclaim and screened internationally in theaters and on television including HBO, MTV, and BBC. Her bestknown film, 'The Oslo Diaries' (2018) premiered at Sundance and was picked up by HBO later that year.