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Leftover Women

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Catalogue Number:  BLUE19
Producer:  Blue Ice Docs Fund Inc.
Subject:  Anthropology, Canadian World Studies, Documentary, Gender Studies, Health, Social Issues, Social Sciences, Sociology, Women's Studies
Language:  Mandarin
Grade Level:  Post Secondary, Adult
Country Of Origin:  Israel
Copyright Year:  2019
Running Time:  84:02


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China's one-child policy was a mandatory family planning policy (1979–2015) that restricted most families to one child to control rapid population growth. Enforced through fines, sterilization, and contraception mandates, it caused significant social, gender, and demographic shifts, including an aging population, labor shortages, and a significant gender imbalance.

‘Leftover Women’ is how the Chinese describe educated, cosmopolitan women who are not married and settled by the time they reach their mid-twenties. Through marriage markets, matchmakers, and government-sponsored dating events, the film follows three hopeful singles who, under immense pressure, are determined to find love on their own terms.

Film is in Mandarin with English subtitles.

Winner – Best Documentary Feature, Philadelphia Film Festival

Winner – Best Director, DocAviv Film Festival (Israeli Competition)



“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


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