Eight-part documentary series and 1 x 90 min theatrical feature

Directed by Izzy Chan, Produced by Marilyn McFadyen

Country of Production: USA, China, Niger, India, Indonesia

Languages: English and local languages / dialects

MATRIARCH introduces viewers to five relatively unknown and historically distinctive matriarchal societies. The project follows five female protagonists—a child, an adolescent, a young mother, a grandmother, and a rematriation activist—to reveal what it’s ike to grow up and grow old in a woman’s world.

Five women navigate the triumphs and challenges of growing up and growing old in a women-centered world. From USA, to China, India, Indonesia and Niger, they grapple with identity, love, loss, and faith as they weigh matriarchal traditions against the encroaching influence of patriarchal culture. Imagine a world where women are at the center—where little girls are treasured, and grandmothers lead the way. How is life different? Is there violence? Inequality? Oppression? How are men and boys treated? MATRIARCH is the story of five matriarchies through the eyes of five women—a Khasi Indian girl everyone expects to rule one day, an adolescent Tuareg African growing into womanhood, a Mosuo Chinese mother at a crossroads in mid-life, a Minangkabau Indonesian grandmother protecting her clan’s future, and a Navajo American artist and activist leading a rematriation movement. MATRIARCH shows us what it’s like to grow up and grow old in a woman’s world.

Izzy Chan

Izzy is a strategic consultant and documentray maker based in Seattle, USA I come from a line of strong women, but always with a keen awareness that we live in a man’s world.

"My grandmother was one of the millions of refugees who fled China during the Communist Revolution, walking 600 miles to Hong Kong. I vividly remember shopping for children’s shoes for her—little shoes that would look respectable on my grandmother’s feet. Her feet were bound when she was a little girl. Bound as in cut, broken, and tightly- painfully - wrapped. Such was the man’s world she lived in.

Hence my interest in gender equality. My first feature documentary, THE BIG FLIP, explores the rise of breadwinner wives and at-home dads in America. My current project, MATRIARCH, explores a lifelong question I’ve had—what would it be like to grow up and grow old in a woman&’s world? I want to imagine how my grandmother’s life would have been different in such a world.”