The female pioneers of China’s film industry and how they’re continuing to bring important, fresh perspectives to the big screen
China’s film industry may still be male-dominated, but for now, the country’s most famous director is a woman. Jia Ling’s latest film, YOLO, soared during the Lunar New Year holiday, raking in over 3.4 billion yuan at the box office. The film, which Jia starred in, is an uplifting story of an obese and suicidal protagonist who learns to love herself. Jia shed 50 kilograms for the film, which also made her just the fourth female Chinese director to make an accumulated 10 billion yuan at the box office over their career.