One of the most tender films of 2025, Left-Handed Girl, is coming to Netflix on November 28th. The solo directorial feature of Shih-Ching Tsou was produced, edited and co-written by Sean Baker (Anora). It tells the charming coming-of-age dramedy about a young impressionable Taiwanese girl, I-Jing (Nina Ye), who happens to be left-handed, and is told by her backwards-thinking grandfather, not to use her left hand as it's the devil's hand. The film had its launch as part of the Cannes' Critics' Week and has been submitted as Taiwan's entry for International Feature at the 2026 Academy Awards.

FILMHOUNDS sat down with the writer/director Shih-Ching Tsou to discuss her directorial debut, pet monkeys and finding talent on Instagram.

I guess the first question I'm obligated to ask is, are you right-handed or left-handed? 

Well, actually, I was left-handed, but I got corrected very early on. And I didn't know I was left-handed until probably in high school, when my grandfather asked me not to use my left hand because I was using knives with my left hand. 

So there's a lot of yourself in the movie, obviously reflected in the character of I-jing. Was there anything else that you drew from your own experience and put into the movie? 

Well, you know, I would say like every character is a reflection of myself, you know, because I'm also a mother. Since we wrote the script in 2010, and I had my daughter in 2001. She's nine right now. So being a mother, I think it's like this is necessary. I have to be a mother to kind of feel how a mother will feel about their daughter, how they will treat their daughter. 

So I feel like this is a necessary thing. It's also been healing for me, you know, being a mother and how I was treated as a little girl. It's kind of all like coming back together and I just put every life experience back into the film. 

You've created such a lovely ensemble of characters in the film as well. With the three leads, mum and the two girls, was it a challenge to find those actors for those roles? 

I think in the very beginning, the hardest one was the little girl because she has to be perfect. 

I had a social media street casting. I watched like 50 to 70 tapes and I couldn't find her. And later on we also did an acting workshop and still didn't find her. 

And she eventually got recommended by an agent of an actor in Taiwan. And at the time she already had three years of acting experience in commercials. 

And also her mom has been coaching her since she was three. So I was really lucky when I cast her. Her mom told me that you don't have to hire an acting coach because I'm the perfect one. So I basically hired an actor that comes with a personal acting coach. 

She would rehearse the lines with her at home and help her memorize all the lines. So when it comes to that, she is completely prepared, knows what to say. And a lot of times she was putting her own spin. 

That was really funny because at first I thought maybe the mother is trying to coach her, like telling her how to act. So I had to tell her mom, well, please don't tell her how to act, but you can tell her the line. 

So she was like, no, I did not do that. I think that's her. That's her idea of acting. So she's like putting little things in there. So that was really cute. She would like to try different things. And I will have to tell her like, yeah, no, you have to be very subtle. 

You have to pretend something. So a lot of time we'll have to play a pretend game. I would say like, oh, you know, your mom and your sister are fighting. You just have to keep on doing the thing you do, but you have to just look like you're listening to them. 

So that was a very tricky balance to be natural and pretentious. 

And how about the other two actresses? 

The older sister I-Ann, I found on Instagram. I was determined to streetcast in Taipei, but I didn't have a lot of time to stay there for a long period of time. 

So I just went on Instagram in New York and I was typing Taiwanese actors, Taiwanese models, Taiwanese girls. And I was just going through all the profiles. And immediately I found her. 

Isn't that how you and Sean Baker also found Bria Vinaite in The Florida Project as well? 

Exactly, yeah. 

You guys have found gold on Instagram. And you mentioned Taipei as well. You guys were shooting there in the real markets. Was it a challenge to shoot there?

The shoot was 35 to 37 days. On the first day, we had a pretty small crew of 20 people because I knew we wanted to shoot on real locations. So 20 people, and the first day after they set up everything, they all wore black t-shirts. And they were waiting across the street. 

But we couldn't shoot because as soon as people saw those black shirts, like black t-shirt crew, they knew there's a movie shoot and we couldn't shoot on the first day. So the second day I asked everyone, like, nobody wears a black t-shirt to set. You have no business here, you need to pretend you're going to the office. Or you have to just pretend you are one of the night market goers. 

I love that. Like you had an entire film crew incognito, essentially. 

Yeah. Dressed as pedestrians. So I said that's the way, you know, so from that point out, we have like six just the core members, two cinematographers, myself, script supervisor, and lighting person, and the sound person. 

So six people just kind of hiding in and around that night market, the noodle stand without actors. 

One of my favourite parts of the film is the whole sequence with Gugu, the meerkat. I've heard it's often quite challenging to shoot with animals. Did you find it was difficult to work with these meerkats? 

Oh my god, that's the only thing that changed from the original script because Gugu was a monkey in the script. I had a pet monkey. 

Wait, what? You had a pet monkey growing up. That's so cool. When I was young all I had was a hamster. 

Let me show you the real Gugu.

At this point, Shih-Ching Tsou shows me pictures from her phone of her as a little girl holding her pet monkey Gugu.

I was determined to put the monkey in the film, but we couldn't because in Taiwan they have such a very strict rule on monkeys in the film. So that's the only thing that, you know, that character got changed. But the meerkat was actually recommended by a friend.

He has a couple exotic animals. So he said, oh, I highly recommend the meerkat because the meerkat is like a king at home. The meerkat would live with a couple dogs and cats. It's like ruling the animal world in the house. 

He's really smart. He'll be running around and then destroy something, but it runs back to the owner right away so he doesn't get caught. So on set is actually not too bad. I guess because I have cats so I kind of know how to handle little animals. I know how to pick them up. And then my cinematographer joked, they said, the meerkat is so smart, they know you are a director. So he only listened to me because I can control. 

Is there anything you can't do? Because I know you've had your fingers and all the different pies on sets, from costumes and producing and also now meerkat-whisperer apparently as well. 

Yes.  I think the cinematographer had a pretty hard time. They were chasing him all over the place. They were really frustrated. But I think in the end, Sean is really good at putting all the best takes together. 

I also really loved the music, particularly in the market scenes when watching I-Jing wander through all the stalls and she's shoplifting with her “devil hand”. Was it challenging to find that piece of music that had that right mix of excitement, mischievousness and danger? 

Well, you see that left-hand music, when I was editing the film myself, like before Sean and I picked it out, I actually spent time trying to pick the music because when the little kids are doing bad things, they must be very nervous and shy. 

So I feel like that's perfect music for that left hand because she's nervous and also a little excited. So I think that's the perfect way to kind of portray her mood. Also for the audience to feel that sense of nervousness and excitement. 

Let's talk about the big emotional climax of the film with Grandma's 60th birthday banquet. It's shocking, it's emotional, it's funny as well. Was it a challenge to get all the balance of elements right in that? 

Well, I think that scene is very special, you know, because we have a lot of extras. And my mom, you see like four tables there. So two of the tables, they are all my mom's friends. 

So they are all like people who really never have any experience in film. So when they were sitting there just watching all those actors acting on stage, I think in the end everybody was crying. It was such a scene. 

I was like, “Oh my god, this is crazy”. It's like an immersive theater experience for everybody. They are crying on the stage and then everybody, the actors on the table, they are all crying with the actors. 

That was a really, really special experience. It was a fun scene to shoot. And that took us three days to shoot.

After Left-Handed Girl, what's next for you? 

Oh, I'm collecting stories now. I have a lot of stories from different places. I have a story in Taipei, in New York, in Kenya, in Japan, in Zurich. I'm traveling with the film right now. I got to go to all different cities. I wanted to tell a story from different cultures, from different places. I think for me it will be a fun project to do. Also, a good challenge. 

Left-Handed Girl is available to stream on Netflix on November 28th. 

 

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