娱乐英语新闻:Bigelow boost for women directors

Peng Xiaolian has more than 20 years' film-making experience since her graduation in 1982 from the Beijing Film Academy with alumni Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

After shooting a couple of art-house films - "Me and My Classmate" and "Women's Story" - Peng went to New York University in 1989 for her master's degree in fine arts. In 1996, she returned to Shanghai.

Many of her recent films have Shanghai as their backdrop, including "Shanghai Story," Peng's semi-autobiographical movie telling of the lives of a wealthy Shanghai family from the mid-1960s to modern times; "Shanghai Women" about Shanghai wage earners living in shikumen (stone-gated) houses; and "Shanghai Rumba," which tells the love story of an actor and actress in the 1940s.

Peng Xiaolian (center) on Peng Xiaolian (center) on a film-shooting site

"I am not a very social person," Peng says. "I write scripts on my own and I have established a long stable relation with my team."

Peng says that the 1980s used to be a golden period for Chinese female film directors, who then made up about a third of the country's film makers working for big state-owned film studios. But in the 1990s, there was a sharp decrease in the number because of the flourishing of commercial cinema.

"Even today, many film investors have major doubts about a female director's ability to make a successful commercial film," Peng says. "Men still dominate senior positions of the film industry. They have the power of discourse and decision. It is really hard for a female film maker to stand out in the competition."

Since women directors still have not been considered enough of a guarantee for movie investors, that can explain why lots of women turn to making short films or TV series. It is difficult for them to get the financial support for a feature film.

Without special art cinema lines in China, conditions for women directors seem to get tougher. Only a few art films have the chance of a public theater screening. And, compared with big-budgeted commercial films, they don't enjoy a long screen time.

"I don't think such a dilemma for women film makers will change much in short time if their talent and film passion can't be widely recognized," Peng says.