Taiwan is submitting the film Left-Handed Girl‘ as its official submission for the Oscars for “Best International Feature Film”:
“Mere months after sweeping the 97th Academy Awards with “Anora,” Sean Baker is making a tangential return to the Oscar race. The auteur co-wrote and edited “Left-Handed Girl,” the solo debut of his “Take Out” co-director Shih-Ching Tsou, which has been selected as Taiwan’s official Oscar submission.
Like “Take Out,” “Left-Handed Girl” is set in the restaurant industry, following a mother-daughter-daughter relationship in Taipei as the family attempts to open a food business. An official synopsis for the film reads: “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 way will have to adapt to this new environment to make ends meet and maintain the family unity. But when their traditional grandfather forbids his youngest left-handed granddaughter from using her ‘devil hand,’ generations of family secrets begin to unravel.””
I recently came across the trailer on YouTube, which I have embedded above.
I’m very interested to see this film. I know a cousin of mine is left-handed, but when he was growing up, my aunt made him use his right hand. In many parts of Asia, it’s a big taboo to be left-handed, which I find personally quite irrational. In a quick Google search, I came across this study: Why are there (almost) no left-handers in China?.
Left-Handed Girl will be shown in select theatres November 14. It will stream on Netflix beginning November 28.
