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  • Izzy Chan, Director/Producer
  • Athena Kalkopoulou, Producer

About the Project

Matriarch is a documentary that transports viewers to four long-established but largely unknown matriarchal societies through the eyes of four females—a Khasi Indian girl that everyone expects to rule one day, an adolescent Tuareg African growing into womanhood, a Mosuo Chinese mother at a crossroads in mid-life, and a Minangkabau Indonesian grandmother protecting her clan’s future.

See what it’s like to grow up and grow old in a woman’s world.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

This is much more than a film about far-flung, exotic peoples. This documentary shows us how matriarchies create societies that are more inclusive and egalitarian than patriarchies. Female-centered communities focus on building resilient societies based on inclusion, collective well-being, and equality. This film will show us what female leadership has accomplished—not in theory or as conjecture, but in the real world.

As we continue to struggle against gender inequality and a gaping wealth gap in the West, and growing intolerance across the world, matriarchal societies can inspire new ideas for solving pressing problems.

Izzy Chan, Director/Producer
Athena Kalkopoulou, Producer