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When director Tsou Shih-ching was a child in Taiwan, her grandfather scolded her for using her left hand, calling it \u201cthe devil\u2019s hand\u201d. She vividly remembers the \u201csense of guilt\u201d, a feeling of \u201clike I did something wrong\u201d that stayed with her for decades.<\/p>\n
That childhood memory has now become the seed for her solo directorial debut, Left-Handed Girl<\/em>, a deeply personal film that has become one of the year\u2019s most celebrated.<\/p>\n It tells the story of a mother (Janel Tsai) and her two daughters working at a night market noodle stall in Taipei. The film is experienced largely from the untainted, five-year-old perspective of the younger daughter, I-Jing (played by child star Nina Ye).<\/p>\n Tsou and Baker first met in an editing class at The New School in New York, where she was studying a master\u2019s in media studies.<\/p>\nPremiering at Cannes Critics\u2019 Week in May and now nominated for nine Golden Horse awards, including best narrative feature, the film has been a labour of love for Tsou, a long-time producer for Oscar-winning director Sean Baker<\/span>, stretching back more than two decades.<\/div>\n\u201cWe watched a lot of movies together. We really enjoyed Dogme 95<\/span>,\u201d she tells the Post, referring to the Danish filmmaking movement that rejected the elaborate use of technology and put the focus squarely on story. \u201cI said maybe we should try and make a movie like that.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n