“Left-Handed Girl”, interview with director Shih-Ching Tsou

May 21, 2025

Shih-Ching Tsou is in Cannes with her solo project Left Handed Girl, 21 years after Take Out, co-directed with Sean Baker

“Left-Handed Girl”, interview with director Shih-Ching Tsou Chiara Nicoletti

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21 years after co-directing “Take out“ with Sean Baker, director and producer Shih-Ching Tsou is competing, at Cannes 78, at the Semaine de la critique with “Left-Handed Girl“.

The film, produced, co-written and edited by Sean Baker, is Shih-Ching Tsou’s first solo project. A family story inspired by a vivid memory, says Shih-Ching Tsou: “my grandfather once told me not to use my left hand because it was the devil’s hand”.

“Left-Handed Girl“, as the title suggests, is a female lead story set in Taiwan and it follows a single mother and her two daughters trying to make it in Taipei.

Shih-Ching Tsou starts from “the left hand’s belief” in order to dismantle it in favor of women taking their own path despite their fear of judgment or rejection.

Plot

A single mother and her two daughters return to Taipei after several years of living in the countryside to open a stand at a buzzing night market. Each in their own way, will have to adapt to this new environment to make ends meet and succeed in maintaining the family unity. Three generations of family secrets begin to unravel after the youngest daughter who’s left-handed is told by her traditional grandfather to never use her "devil hand”.

Written by: Chiara Nicoletti

Sean Baker