From Taipei to Cannes: Shih-Ching Tsou on Making Left-Handed Girl

It took more than two decades for Shih-Ching Tsou to bring Left-Handed Girl to life. Over time, she evolved into an all-around filmmaker, equipped to tell a vibrant, Taiwan-set family drama on the silver screens.

What began as a shared love for independent films with longtime collaborator Sean Baker over 25 years ago eventually grew into a creative partnership. Tsou co-wrote and co-directed 2003’s Take Out (2004) and produced Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017). 

Her solo feature directorial debut, Left-Handed Girl follows a single mother and her two daughters navigating life in Taipei’s bustling night markets, told through the eyes of a mischievous five-year-old I-Jing. The intergenerational story explores tradition and superstition as I-Jing is scolded by her grandfather for using her dominant left hand, which he calls the “devil’s hand.” Sitting in the backyard of her New York home, Tsou spoke with EnVi about filming in night markets, scenes that did not make the cut, and why curiosity continues to shape her work. 

Spoilers ahead.

A Shared Love for Independent Film

Born and raised in Taipei, Tsou first came to New York City to study media at The New School. There, she met Sean Baker in an editing class while he was working on his first feature. They bonded over Dogme 95 films, a movement known for its stripped-down approach to filmmaking. “I was drawn to how they filmed with a simple video camera, shot at real locations with real people, and they didn’t use music to manipulate the audience’s mood,” Tsou explained. “Everything feels like a documentary.”

Early on, the two began developing ideas inspired by that style. Tsou shared a childhood memory from Taiwan, recalling how in high school her grandfather had seen her pick up a knife with her left hand, calling it “the devil’s hand” and tried to ‘‘correct’’ her; even though she was already right-handed by kindergarten. The experience made her realize that she was born left-handed and had the behavior rectified as a child, “I was really puzzled and also very guilty, that’s why I remembered it for so long.”

Baker encouraged her to build a film around that anecdote. In 2001, they traveled to Taiwan together, but without prior credits, they were unable to secure funding to shoot there.

Over the years, Tsou kept the Left-Handed Girl in the back of her mind while building her career. Take Out became a formative project, shaping how she approached research, community storytelling, and production. She took on multiple roles, from shooting, developing the script, editing audio, producing, and even street casting. After the Cannes premiere of Red Rocket in 2021, she and Baker finally secured international backing for Left-Handed Girl.

Capturing Cultures

In 2010, the duo returned to Taipei for a month to develop the first draft of the script. When night fell, they explored the city’s night markets, which are central hubs of Taiwanese culture and popular gathering spaces known for their traditional food and vibrant atmosphere. “During the day, we just stayed home and wrote the script. At night, we would go to all the night markets to find the perfect night market to shoot.”

One of the earliest scenes they developed featured the grandfather correcting I-Jing’s (Nina Ye) left hand, which became central to the film’s premise. The film captures the fantasies of the left hand being the “devil’s hand” that will do bad things, and ultimately turning it into a scapegoat for everything she’s not supposed to do.

Tsou also drew from other cultural practices beyond the “devil’s hand” superstition. She noted that consulting fortune tellers and changing one’s name is still a common practice in Taiwan. This detail was originally included as a scene, but didn’t make the final cut. During the interview, she pulled out her phone to show a video of the process: a shaman begins by reading a prayer to a bird, which then jumps out of a small wooden cage and selects a piece of red paper from a box. The fortune teller then reads the message written inside. 

She recalled her own experience with the practice. “Back in high school, my mom went to the fortune teller and they suggested changing my name because the characters appeared too masculine and predicted that I, as a girl, will have a very difficult life.” Despite this, Tsou found it amusing and decided to keep her name.

From Night Markets to Silver Screens

Before filming, Tsou consulted local producers about shooting in an active night market. Many advised against it due to many uncontrollable variables, suggesting she recreate the setting instead. As an avid Dogme 95 enthusiast, Tsou was heavily against this, “it feels so fake, and I knew I wanted to shoot in a real night market.”

This was not her first rodeo. Her experience with Tangerine, which was shot on three iPhone 5s around Los Angeles, influenced this decision. By the time she worked on Left-Handed Girl, iPhones were capable of shooting in 4K, LUT and RAW, making them the most suitable equipment for the film. The device allowed for greater flexibility in movement and framing, enabling shots from closer, higher, and lower angles. It also helped first-time actors feel more comfortable in front of the lens, as it was far less intimidating than having a large camera shoved in front of them.

Shooting in a real and crowded night market comes with its own challenges, of course. “On the first day shooting in the night market, we had a 20-person crew who wore all-black t-shirts, which immediately drew attention from a lot of people, even when they couldn’t see the cameras.” There was an unwanted crowd gathering, curious about what they were shooting, who the stars were, and how long the filming would last. “At the end of the day, the footage couldn’t be used because people were visibly loitering in the background,” Tsou explained. 

From then on, there was a ban for wearing black t-shirts and the crew was reduced to just five or six people, including the actors, “two DPs and myself, script supervisor, the sound person, often one lighting person.”

“We didn’t stop anything,” Tsou said. “We just let everything kind of happen around us. The night market traffic, the people, they are all real. And I think that’s the only way you can capture the real essence of the night market.”

Rerouting Heirloom Pain

In the film, I-Ann’s (Ma Shih-yuan) relationship with her mother feels strained and tense, while her dynamic with I-Jing carries a softer and more protective energy. Tsou shared that both relationships were drawn from her own life. When she started shaping the story, she thought back to her teenage years, when she was, in her own words, pretty rebellious. 

“I felt angry. I kept thinking, ‘why is everything to unfair?’” she said. “As a girl, I felt that very strongly.” That frustration became the foundation for I-Ann’s relationship with her mother, reflecting how Tsou remembered her own youth. 

On the other hand, I-Ann’s relationship with I-Jing was inspired by Tsou’s experience as a mother. Having grown up with a strict and controlling parenting style, she wanted to break that pattern with her own child. She admitted that it wasn’t easy, especially when that was the only kind of parenting she had known, but she tried to approach it with more care. “When you become a parent, you want to keep the good things and eliminate the bad,” she expressed.

That shift is reflected in the scene where I-Ann stands up for herself and I-Jing, asking their grandfather to stop calling her left hand the “devil’s hand.” Tsou saw that moment as the heart of the film. “We have to teach kids — girls or boys — to speak their minds and know when and how to protect themselves,” she related.

Becoming a mother also changed how Tsou approached the story overall. “I think that’s why these three characters represent different versions of myself at different stages of life. It’s like a cycle of womanhood,” Tsou recalled. 

At its core, the film is an intimate character study of three generations of women trying–and at times struggling — to survive in Taipei. Under Tsou’s lens, each of the women tells an authentic story. Shu-Fen’s (Janel Tsai) life is shaped by familial obligations, while I-Ann pushes against her mother’s stoicism, even if that resistance comes from a similar place of desperation to her mother’s. Meanwhile, I-Jing is forced to navigate a world ready to punish her for what she can’t change.

Although Shu-Fen, I-Ann, and I-Jing exist at different stages of life, their arcs mirror each other. They’re shaped by the same kind of expectations and pressures, just in slightly different forms depending on their generation. Each of them copes differently, but they’re all reacting to the same system that keeps failing them. In their own ways, they try to make sense of it, push back against it, and survive within it. 

An Intimate Lens on a Bigger Reality

Not only is this film Tsou’s breakout debut, it was also selected as Taiwan’s submission for Best International Feature at the Oscars. It stands out for how it captures night market culture, tells a coming-of-age story from a less typical perspective, and its modern approach to culturally rooted storytelling. 

What’s interesting is that instead of choosing a big historical epic or something more nationalistic, Taiwan chose a smaller, more intimate story focused on women and the kind of struggles that haven’t really changed over time. In the same vein, Left-Handed Girl feels more raw and clumsy yet honest. It quietly points out that even with modernization, a lot of the pressures on women are still there.

A Continued Curiosity for Human Stories

Looking ahead, Tsou expressed interest in continuing to tell stories about marginalized communities. She hopes to set her next project in New York, where she currently lives. “There are so many human stories here that need to be told.” 

Instead of looking to books or films for inspiration, Tsou often turns to real-life conversations and experiences. Much of that comes from traveling to film festivals and meeting people along the way, explaining that curiosity pushes her to dig deeper and talk to more people.

For Tsou, cinema goes beyond just entertainment. “Cinema is not just about entertaining, it’s more about education.” She believes films can open audiences to different worlds and hopes to do that through her work.

That mindset carries into how she sees learning too. Tsou understands life doesn’t just come from classrooms or textbooks. It comes from going out into the world and connecting with people from different backgrounds. “I think the more you see, the more empathy you’ll have. Especially for people outside of your own community.”

For more on Shih-Ching Tsou’s work and her continued exploration of human stories, follow her on Instagram for upcoming projects. Left-Handed Girl is now streaming on Netflix. 

Interested in more conversations on authenticity and representation? Check out our interview with Jirassaya Wongsutin!