Shih-Ching Tsou, director of celebrated Taiwanese drama 'Left-Handed Girl'

0:13Hello and welcome to the Monaco Weekly. I'm Fernando Gusto Pacheco, and on today's show I speak with director Shi Jing Su about her latest film with Netflix, Left-Handed Girl, which is also Taiwan's official entry for the Oscars. And talking about Oscars, the award-winning auteur Sean Baker, from an aura, produced, edited, and co-wrote the film. It was a pleasure meeting Shi Jing here in London.

0:47I think this is really interesting Guys, kids, we have a new students today Here!

0:59Mom! You're doing my job, too No, but you're doing it, it's doing it Xie Jingseng, what a pleasure talking to you I loved Left-Handed Girl, what a beautiful film My first question to Is It True? I was reading an interview. Is there a personal touch to it as though when you were a kid, you were also kind of a left-handed girl as well? Yeah, but I didn't even remember that because I got corrected so early on. I probably in kindergarten by the teacher. So the first time I kind of recognized that was in high school. You know, when I used a knife with my left hand, my grandfather told me it's a devil's hand.

1:38You know, he scolded me. He was really strict. And he said that you shouldn't use that. I remember that so vividly because I didn't understand. I wasn't left-handed. But when he said that to me, it's a sense of guilt, you know, like shame. You feel like I did something wrong. I did something I'm not supposed to. So I always remember that. And when I went to New York after I graduated from college, I went to get my master's degrees in media studies at New School. I ran into Sean in the editing class. And, you know, we bounded through we loved the same type of movie, like Dogma Night Defy, World Cinema, Korean Cinema.

2:15So we're kind of telling ourselves, well, maybe we should make something together because it's really rare you find somebody that likes the same type of movie you like. You have sensibility. It's from there I told him about this thing my grandfather told me. So he thought that sounds like a wonderful idea to turn into a movie script. So in 2001, we went to Taiwan the first time to try to find a story. So I went all the way back to like 25 years ago. Amazing. I'm left-handed as well. So I feel connected with that. So you didn't get corrected. No, but my father did. He was also left-handed and he was corrected at this time.

2:53But then things have changed. What about Schoenbaker? You have a very long-standing professional relationship with him. You guys met at university, right? Yeah. Well, he already, you know, when I went there, I was getting my master's degree. And he already graduated from Tisch. He learned film with a very traditional film camera and cutting room, cutting the negative. So he went back to a new school to learn non-linear editing, AB editing. So that's how we met. If I never met him in school, I would probably never make movies because that wasn't my goal. I didn't even know that could be a career.

3:32Because coming from Taiwan, it's very traditional. They just want you to study. They want you to study and graduate and get a stable job, right? So being an artist is never really a goal or a need. They don't want you to be an artist because it's unstable. So if I didn't meet him, I'd probably never make a movie. And you both, I don't know, I'm guessing, but what I find it perhaps similar when you met creatively, because your films can be gritty, but also incredibly heartwarming at the same time. Do you know what I mean? It's almost like a beautiful fable in that sense, right? Yeah, we definitely like to, you know, we like to tell human story, especially from the very beginning, Take Out.

4:13You know, that's the very first film we made together. I think from the very beginning, we knew we want to tell human story, you know, story that really connect with people. So I think through, you know, especially through comedy, I think that really connect people so much better. Because live, there are so many facets, you know, not just a set bar. We also have a lot of happy, you know, you laugh, you cry, you fight, you make up. So I feel like that's the life I want to tell in the story. Not just the sad part, but also the happy part. Because there's some sadness in the film, but incredible optimism in the story as well.

4:52I want to talk to you about the casting. All the three, the mother and the daughters, if I may say, they're incredible. Nina Ye, the cast, what a beautiful. story. So tell us how was the casting? Did you knew some of the actresses or how did it work out? When I started casting, I always knew I wanted to do street casting because I wanted to have fresh spaces in my film. Especially in Taiwanese films, you always see that couple people. I think in Hollywood, it's the same thing. You have one or two very popular stars and you see them all over the different movie. But I want to discover my own star in my film.

5:32So when I tried to find the little girl, we actually did social media, street casting. I watched 50 to 70 tapes. But I couldn't find that girl. You know, I know what in my mind, I know what she looks like. So I just feel like, you know, I really want to see more. So we also did an acting working shop with an acting coach. We invited little girls in, and then we still didn't find her. So in the end, she was recommended by one of the agents of the actor in Taiwan. And at the time, she was in a lot of commercials. And so she already had three years of acting experience in commercials. And she knows exactly what to do in front of camera.

6:16She knows how to look cute and how to memorize the line and everything. So I'm very lucky to find her. And then she also comes with an acting coach, her mom. Her mom prepared her at home and memorized the line. So when she come to set, she's perfectly ready. For the older sister, I couldn't be in Taiwan to stay a long period of time to do the real street casting. So when I was in New York, I just went on to Instagram. I thought, well, maybe that's a way. It's another way to find it. So I type in Taiwanese girl, Taiwanese model. And I was just looking through a profile. So that's how I found her.

6:56And she had never acted before. What a gem. Potentially, she has one of the hardest roles as well, of everything she's been through, right? Right, right. She's really, you know, she's a natural actor. It's amazing. Tell us, you shot the film on iPhone, right, if I'm wrong. What are the challenges of filming like this? Because, of course, when you watch the film, you don't sometimes realize, but there must be other types of challenges as well, right? Yeah, well, I think just based on, you know, we did a film, Tangerine. It was also from iPhone. So I kind of know, you know, I know how to, and especially like throughout so many different films, I know how to work in a real location.

7:35And I know how to work on the street. I know how to work with iPhone. So it's kind of all the learning experiences kind of, you know, inform me how to make this film in the night market. From the very beginning, I know I want to make a real night market because before I make the film, I went to Taiwan and talked to other producers. And everybody was kind of like, there's no way. You know, there's like, there's no way you can make a movie in a real night market. You have to build your night market and hire all the actors. But I knew that's not a way to do it. So eventually, you know, I realized, well, the only way is using an iPhone.

8:10So nobody will pay attention to us. And we have, make our crew very, very small. So we hire all the crew. So we just kind of, you know, kind of like we just run in this night market with like two cameras walking around. Because the night market is like a character. I mean, so vivid. You could feel the smells. I kind of want to eat those noodles. It was very, so it's a real place then. Oh, yeah. And also that noodle stand, we actually rented from the owner. And when I found them, you know, they are doing business 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. So when I found them, I said, oh, this is perfect. So I was there every day for two months just to convince him.

8:47You know, I said, please just let us use it. At first, he didn't really want to acknowledge me. He said, well, you know, whatever. But I think after two months, he kind of softened on, and he realized that, oh, she's really sincere. She really wants to make a movie. In the end, he rented a stand to us, even with the food, you know, all the material. He let us use everything.

9:32And of course, Left-Handed Girls, Taiwan's entry for the Oscars this year. I mean, how do you feel? Because, yeah, great reception for the film. Their views have been great. But tell us, how do you feel about this? Well, it feels like an impossible mission. First, when we're trying to advocate in Taiwan because they have this small, like seven people community to pick a movie every year. And in the beginning, we didn't even know what to do because I am not a known, I never worked in Taiwan before. So people don't know who I am. This is your first production in Taiwan. In Taiwan. Oh, wow. Yeah, so it feels really, you know, very scary when I first went back because nobody knows who I am.

10:14And on top of that, I'm doing something very different from every other film. So it was a little bit frightening, you know, like how people are going to perceive, like how they look on the look at this film. So it was really, it was really a surprise when I found out we got picked as the film. It was really, really a surprise. Amazing. And how do you see the Taiwanese film scene? Is that something that perhaps you would like to go back and make other films there? because I know you have a life in the U.S. as well. So how do you see for your future projects? Well, I definitely want to make more film in Taiwan, but not just Taiwan though, because I've been traveling on the festival circuit and I visit different cities and I talk to people there.

11:00I always found interesting stories. So I wanted to go to a different country and tell different stories to show a different city, to kind of showcase different city and showcase different culture. but always with the stories that really matter, that connects with people, you know, human stories. Well, I personally am dying to go to Taiwan, to Taipei, because the food, food-wise, I know it's not very rude, but you know Ding Tai Fung, right? Yeah. I literally go for lunch there every day. Oh, really? Here? Here in London. Oh, my God. Aren't they expensive? Well, a little bit. Yeah. So that was my start of kind of being curious about Taiwan.

11:41Okay. It's food scene. Oh, my God. Do you recommend me to be there? You have to go. You know, I was joking to other people. They were talking, especially distributors throughout the world. When I meet them, you have to ask your boss. You have a company travel every year. You should ask them to go to Taiwan. And you'll have this night market tour. It'll be so fun. And for a quick curiosity, does Shen have any connections with Taiwan? How was he? Because he's the co-writer of the story. Has he been to the country as well? So how was it for him to write a story like this as well? Oh, yeah, of course.

12:16In 2001, we went there the first time. I kind of showed him everything, the Night Market, the Beatles, and the Stan. And the second time we went back there was after Takeout was released in the theater. So we went back there again in 2010. We actually lived there for a month so he can experience the life in Taiwan. And we also wrote the first script of script that time. and when we like scouting all the different night markets we actually went to this night market you saw in the film and we ran into this little girl who was five years old and she was so cute and we shot a trailer with her and thinking oh we want to use her in the film but you know we couldn't find money at the time we actually took this trailer and we went to a different film market we went to two film markets but we didn't find money but you know I always go back there to visit the family.

13:10And now when I make the film in 2022, this girl is already 20 years old. Wow. Yeah. So crazy. It's just like it takes so long, but at the same time, it's so fulfilling. You know, I feel like we kind of, like the story kind of grow with time, also grow with myself, you know, because I've become a mother and that kind of, that's why like the three characters as fragments of myself, you know, being a mother, being a daughter, and being a little kid. So that's kind of full circle of a female life, I think. So it's really meaningful. It's really healing as well.

14:05Thank you, Shi Jing Su. there, Left-Handed Girl, is out now in selected cinemas and will be out on Netflix on the 28th of November. I'm Fernando Augusto Pacheco. The show was edited by Steph Tchungo. Thank you for listening.