Writer-director Shih-Ching Tsou joins us to discuss 'Left-Handed Girl,' her deeply personal solo directorial debut that premiered at Cannes Critics' Week and has been selected as Taiwan's entry for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards. Shih-Ching reflects on her decades-spanning collaboration with Sean Baker, who co-wrote, produced, and edited the film, and how their creative partnership shaped this intimate family drama.

Our conversation explores the remarkable time, patience, and effort making this film required, over 20 years from conception to completion. She shares what returning home to Taiwan to shoot her first solo feature meant to her, capturing the vibrant energy of Taipei's bustling night markets where much of the story unfolds.

We delve into the film's central theme: the physical and cognitive consequences of left-handedness being considered "the devil's work" in traditional Taiwanese culture. Shih-Ching discusses how her grandfather's words about her own left hand became the heart of this multi-generational story, exploring how superstition and shame can echo through families and how quiet stories about women's struggles deserve a place on the big screen.