Inside ‘Left-Handed Girl’: Shih-Ching Tsou On Tradition’Taipei And Her Solo Directing Breakthrough

In select theaters and streaming on Netflix on November 28th, Left-Handed Girl is the solo directing debut from Taiwanese native Shih-Ching Tsou. She is a longtime collaborator with Oscar-winning writer/director Sean Baker, producing several of his films, including Tangerine, The Florida Project, & Red Rocket and co-directing their first film together, 2004’s Take Out.

Acquired by Netflix after its debut during Critics Week at Cannes, Left-Handed Girl tells the story of a single mother and her two daughters returning to Taipei after several years of living in the countryside to open a stand at a buzzing night market. Each in their way will have to adapt to this new environment to make ends meet and maintain the family unity. But when their traditional grandfather forbids his youngest left-handed granddaughter from using her “devil hand,” generations of family secrets begin to unravel.

What’s on Netflix’s Andrew Morgan was delighted to talk with Tsou about her very personal new film, her longtime collaborator Sean Baker, and the amazing young performances she has produced over the years.

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AM: You’ve had such a positive response for Left-Handed Girl. The film is now an official selection as the Taiwanese entry for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars; as a film that you’ve referred to as a love letter to Taiwan and a native yourself, how much did that mean to you?

SCT: Oh my god, it’s such an honor. I never dreamed that they would pick a first-timer, a first director’s film as an Oscar entry, so it’s really wonderful. It also shows how this film really resonates with the Taiwanese audience because the committee that initially chose the film they are native Taiwanese, so I feel very honored.

You paint Taipei in particular as such a vibrant and colorful city with maybe some challenges, of course, in the evolution of their culture and traditions. What do you hope people take away from your film concerning present-day Taiwan and some of the issues they face, maybe especially women, as they are front and center in your film?

I feel like a lot of it is still going on, and I just feel like people really don’t talk about it anymore because all this tradition is already embedded into the culture. So, being a woman, I grew up in Taiwan and I talked to a lot of my female friends in Taiwan as well, from time to time, and I think a lot of them still experience the same things that even after so many years, I still hear the same story. So I feel it’s so important for people to really talk, think about it, and talk about it. I think a lot of things need to be changed. Like you need to recognize first before you can makea  change. So I think it’s important to really bring people’s awareness on this.

As many know, you’re a longtime collaborator with Sean Baker ever since your days at the New School. He’s credited as a co-writer, editor, and producer on this film. How would you describe your creative partnership with him?

From the very first film we worked on together, Take Out, we kind of created this process of how to do the story research, how to get into the community and find out their stories and add them into the script to make everything so much more authentic. So, I think throughout working on Take Out, working on real locations, street casting, and every bit of the filmmaking method, we applied into Left-Handed Girl. All the learning experiences throughout the year started with Take Out.

You mentioned Take Out, which was your co-directing effort from basically two decades ago now. This is your first solo directing effort. How are you different now as a director? How are you different? How is the experience different? And maybe what do you look for in other directors that maybe influenced you with this movie?

Well, it’s 20 years ago, right? So obviously, I’m so much older and with all the life experience and also with all the filmmaking experiences, I definitely grew as a person, you know, also as a filmmaker … I think Sean is the very direct influence on how I make films, how I direct films. So I would say, like all the observations are very important, you know, in my mind, like a lot of time, you have to look first and then see the details, right? So that’s how you capture all the nuances. For example, Left-Handed Girl, I have been observing Taiwanese society throughout the 10 years after we wrote all the scripts, so I added all the details into the film, into the script. And, kind of watching Sean direct all the films along the way, I kind of learned how to be a good director, how to be open to collaborating with people on set, off set. So, it’s definitely just kind of watching him doing all the movies that helped me grow as a director as well.

Well, it definitely was an effective way to do it, as you have created such a great film. You have two excellent young female performances at the heart of this film. You were a producer on the Florida Project, which gave us an amazing breakout performance for a young Brooklyn Prince as an example, too. Tell us about the discovery of these talented actresses and maybe what you look for in a young actor that’s given you so much success between you and Sean.

Well, finding Nina, she played I-Jing, it was really hard in Taiwan, because I thought I would find her on the street. But eventually, I actually found her through an agent’s recommendation. She actually has a very similar background compared to Brooklyn Prince, because Brooklyn Prince was from a commercial world when we cast her. Nina also came from a commercial world. She has been acting in commercials since she was three. So she had three years of acting experience (when she started the film). So she knew exactly what to do in front of the camera and off the camera. She knew that there’s a lot of waiting, you have to get ready and wait for your part to come. So in essence, she knew exactly what to do. And also with her mother’s help, her mom coaching her since she was three, she brings her to all the auditions and tries to prepare her, kind of feeds her the line, and memorizes the line. So, the mother definitely helped a lot in preparing her.

Working with Nina was pretty easy because she knows exactly what to do already. And she knows how to understand the order and how to understand what I said on set. With her, we usually play a pretend game. I would tell her just imagine or think about if your mom is fighting with your sister in your room, what would you do? Sometimes you hear things around you, but you’re still doing your thing. So, you know, it’s kind of like a pretend game that we do on set.

This is such a great film, and I was blown away by it. I saw it for the first time last night, and it has such a massive bombshell in it, as well as all the major themes that you’ve already discussed and covered, and did such a great job. I am rooting for you as the year progresses into award season. And congratulations again on the film. I appreciate your time.

Thank you so much.