First Chinese female monologue ‘Hear Her’ covers issues faced by women daily to great acclaim

Produced by Vicky Zhao

08-03- 2021 04:08 PM

First Chinese female monologue ‘Hear Her’ covers issues faced by women daily to great acclaim

Produced by Vicky Zhao, Hear Her is a compelling series of standalone monologues about issues facing women today. The eight 30-minute episodes features eight talented Chinese actresses.

Based on BBC Studios’ drama Snatches: Moments from Women’s Lives, the series launches on BBC First (unifiTV channel 481) and BBC Player in Malaysia from 8 March, marking International Women’s Day.

While the social status of women has improved slightly, many still face emotional and social barriers such as the impact of being single parents, the situations facing older single women, and the dilemmas facing matriarchs of traditional families.

Many women also experience appearance anxiety, midlife crises and lack of self-worth. This series raises awareness of issues women face across all of society, to help support all women.

“To some extent, monologue dramas don’t represent a highly commercial form of acting. These programmes aim to resonate with the heart of the audience to raise awareness of the challenging issues facing women,” said Vicky Zhao.

Hear Her received critical acclaim and extensive social media discussion when it broadcast in mainland China last November.

The award-winning skills of the actresses selected to play each role helped to truly portray the character’s inner feelings to strike an emotional chord with the audience. Differing from conventional monologues, the series achieves movie-like production quality.

The production team of Hear Her gathers together a range of experienced, award-winning colleagues from across China’s film industry. For example, the Director of Photography for the episode “Reshape”, Li Yaohui, has filmed a number of famous movies including Happy Together, and Infernal Affairs, winning the best cinematography title at the Hong Kong Film Awards three times.

In addition, the series has welcomed photography director Ke Yuming (Bad Guys Always Die), Golden Horse Awards best makeup and costume design winner Hao Yi (The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman, No Man’s Land), art director Li Yanwei (Youth, If You Are the One) and Golden Horse Awards best sound effects winner Wen Bo (Red Cliff, Let the Bullets Fly).

Additionally, famous directors including Li Shaohong (Palace of Desire, A City Called Macau), Lu Le (Lost, Found), Yin Lichuan (Sleepless Fashion) have also worked on the series to help powerfully present the social issues facing women to the audience.

Available for the first time on BBC First (unifiTV channel 481) and BBC Player, the series will broadcast over four weeks from 8 March and is also available with English subtitles.

Broadcast schedule