Shefali, Kiara, Mithila help curate Women's Day special collection

Mumbai: Indian actresses Shefali Shah, Kiara Advani, Mithila Palkar along with Hollywood celebrities including Salma Hayek, Millie Bobby Brown, Lana Condor, and Ava DuVernay have curated a special watch list for Netflix.

The streaming giant and UN Women on Thursday launched "Because She Watched", a special Netflix collection of series, documentaries, and films, to celebrate International Women's Day (March 8).

"Because She Watched" is a collection that celebrates the power of storytelling. The collection, which will be available all year, is curated by female creators from behind and in front of the camera. The stars picked out of the existing Netflix titles for the collection.

Shefali picked these self-starring "Delhi Crime". She said: "Women need to and must stand up for the rights of other women. The series brings to life the battle for justice that one woman fights on behalf of another, and the impact we can together make."

Kiara also opted for her own project, "Lust Stories".

"We need stories that open up conversations and take them forward. Told by four female protagonists, 'Lust Stories' is their bold, unapologetic and real take on modern relationships and sexual desires that every woman can relate to and yet was never spoken about before," Kiara said explaining the reason behind her decision to pick the project.

Mithila picked "Hannah Gadsby: Nanette".

"I chose this title because it's an extremely compelling and important telling of a story that we should all reflect on. The story narrates the hardships of finding an identity in a world that is unfair to marginalised people and unaccepting of non-conformists in general," she said.

The special collection is curated by 55 women. The list also includes names: Alice Wu, Chris Nee, Janet Mock, Mindy Kaling, Nahnatchka Khan, Sophia Loren and Yalitza Aparicio.

"This collaboration is about taking on the challenge of telling women's stories and showing women in all their diversity. It's about making visible the invisible, and proving that only by fully representing and including women on screen, behind-the-camera and in our narratives overall, society will truly flourish," said Anita Bhatia, UN Women Deputy Executive Director.

"Having a world where everyone is truly represented is about true democracy. And truly seeing ourselves allows us to envision endless possibilities for ourselves and each other", said actress Laverne Cox.