One of China's most popular directors at Europe's top movie festivals, Jia Zhangke, has again used his overseas influence to bring in foreign counterparts to work on an upcoming coproduction.

The film, titled Half The Sky, is the second such film in a five-year project launched during the annual 2nd BRICS Film Festival in Chengdu, in Sichuan province, in June last year.

The project, based on President Xi Jinping's proposal during the 8th BRICS summit in India in 2016, envisages one jointly-created film every year until 2021.

Unlike the first movie, Where Has Time Gone?-in which Jia joined forces with four male directors respectively to shoot a short tale-Half The Sky has an all-female list of directors.

Liu Yulin represents China, and the remaining four female filmmakers are Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari from India; Elizaveta Stishova from Russia; Brazil's Daniela Thomas and South Africa's Sara Bleher.