Setting aside stereotypes

The Shanghai International Film Festival highlights four short films made by women. Liu Wei reports in Shanghai on the initiative.

While female movie stars and singers are often stereotyped as "vases", Yue-sai Kan is trying to show that beauty is more than skin deep.

The Emmy-winning icon, cosmetics entrepreneur, and Miss Universe China National Director since 2011, suggests beauty is not just down to looks.

The China Beauty Charity Fund, chaired by Kan, has provided 2 million yuan ($310,000) to four women, two of whom have never directed a film, to shoot four shorts to address important issues about women.

The four films are to be shown on Thursday during the 15th Shanghai International Film Festival, which runs from June 16-24.

Kan, chairwoman of the invitation committee of the festival since 2006, has brought in such celebrities as Halle Berry, Adrien Brody, Daniel Boyle and Barry Levinson to appear at the gala.

This year, however, she has helped domestic female talents express themselves by directing films.

"I don't know why people would want to be a director," she says. "Directing is so difficult. They say actors are famous because they are made by good directors, but directors are not made by anyone. They have to make themselves."

Therefore she appreciates and supports women who strive to be good directors.

"They just need more exposure and opportunities," she says.

China, like the rest of the world, does not have many successful female directors, especially those who can compete with their male counterparts at the box office.

But Eva Jin, one of the four supported by Kan's project, is one of them.

Jin's first feature, Sophie's Revenge, earned nearly 100 million yuan ($15.7 million) and was the 10th highest-grossing film of 2009 in China.

The Florida State University graduate also wrote the script, in which the heroine is a lovely young cartoonist. The script impressed Zhang Ziyi, star of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, so much that she not only led the cast but also produced the film.

The film won over audiences largely thanks to its romantic and entertaining tone, two elements Jin favors. But in the short film named For Those I Love, she tries out a different style.

She records the final day of a water treatment researcher, who is immersed in guilt and regret for spending too little time with her family and devoting too much time to work. The understanding from her family comforts her enormously.

"People think female directors are good at certain types of films, but we can be very versatile," she says.

Singer/actress Tian Yuan agrees. She presents a cat and mouse game between a female writer and her therapist. A girl who cannot breathe when nervous, and a boy who constantly wants to commit suicide, are involved, too.

The short film is full of suspense and stars a real hypnotist.

"Many people have trouble reaching inner peace, and this film relates to them," she says.

The 20-something has directed nine short films, but still has to work harder than her crew, most of whom are male.

"Men tend to stereotype women, so I want to prove that I am not some little sentimental girl," she says.

Besides, she has to sleep less than male directors, she jokes, because as a woman she spends more time thinking about what to wear every day.

"I don't want to look terrible even if the workload is heavy."

There are advantages to being a woman director.

"Women are good listeners," she says. "I don't yell on the set. I communicate with my crew."

If Jin and Tian have some directing experiences to help them deal with problems on the set, actress Huang Yi's film was inspired by a girl who raised 300,000 yuan on the Internet to help children get schooled.

Having no previous directing experience, Huang finds women's sensitivity helps a lot.

"Some takes might not be that professional, but the emotion they finally convey is right," she says.

As a veteran actress, Huang knows how to ease the pressure of actors, including amateurs such as college students, peasants and her driver.

"Acting is a passive job, but directing challenges you to think of a bigger picture," she says. "The experience is definitely of help to realize my dream to be a producer."

Hong Kong singer Gigi Leung shares Huang's pleasure of handling a project. She has directed some videos of her songs, but never a short film. Her film, Fortune Cookie, tells several people's stories from the perspective of a bakery owner, played by Leung herself.

"It is as delightful as it is difficult to tell a story to touch someone else," she says.

As in any other endeavor, women directors have to deal with the career glass ceiling, something Huang and Leung may not have encountered but Jin and Tian are familiar with.

"The market just does not trust female directors that much," Jin says. "You want to shoot an art film, OK, maybe, but a thriller? A commercial film? Sorry, no one believes you can make it."

Tian shares her concern.

"They assume you are playing, not really working, just because you are a young lady who is good-looking," she says.

The only way out, they say, is to convince as many people as possible that women can direct good films.

Jin's icons are Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the first Twilight installment, and Nancy Meyers, director of What Women Want. Both films were smash hits at the box office.

"I don't think women are only good at emotional art-house dramas. It is difficult but totally possible that they can win over a wider audience," she says.

"Directing is not about gender. It is about your instinct to tell good stories and use precise technology to tell them. There will be more women directing."

Contact the writer at liuw@chinadaily.com.cn.