Name: Left-Handed Girl
Duration: PT108 min.M
Cast: Janel Tsai, Nina Ye, Shi-Yuan Ma

Ontdek

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Left-Handed Girl is the touching solo directorial debut of Shih-Ching Tsou, who, together with her longtime collaborator Sean Baker, presents a restrained yet layered family drama. Set in Taipei, the film is strongly autobiographical: Tsou draws on her own childhood memories and the cultural tensions within her family. The film had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week, where it won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, and it was selected as Taiwan’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

Credits

Regie: Shih-Ching Tsou
Cast: Janel Tsai, Nina Ye, Shi-Yuan Ma
Genre: Drama
Speelduur: 108 min.
Land: Taiwan, France
Taal: Mandarin
Ondertiteling: English

Omschrijving

Single mother Shu-Fen and her two daughters, teenage I-Ann and five-year-old I-Jing, return to Taipei after spending many years living in the countryside. All three face major challenges there. Shu-Fen must clean up the mess left by her ex while working herself to the bone at a food stall, and I-Ann wants to stand on her own feet but repeatedly makes the wrong choices. When left-handed I-Jing is forced by her traditional grandfather to stop using her “devil hand,” three generations of family secrets suddenly begin to unravel.

Alleenstaande moeder Shu-Fen en haar twee dochters, tiener I-Ann en de vijfjarige I-Jing, keren na jarenlang op het platteland te hebben gewoond terug naar Taipei. Alle drie krijgen ze er nogal wat voor de kiezen. Zo moet Shu-Fen de rotzooi van haar ex opruimen, terwijl ze zich kapot werkt in een eetkraampje en wil I-Ann op eigen benen staan maar maakt ze daarin telkens de verkeerde beslissingen. Als de linkshandige I-Jing door haar traditionele grootvader opgedrongen krijgt dat ze die ‘duivelshand’ nooit meer mag gebruiken, beginnen drie generaties aan familiegeheimen zich plotseling te ontrafelen.