A Collaborative Vision: Shih-Ching Tsou and Sean Baker on “Left-handed Girl”
Filmmakers Shih-Ching tsou and Sean Baker, known for their community-focused and frequently enough unconventional approach to filmmaking, brought their established methods to their latest project, Left-Handed Girl. the film features a blend of experienced actors and newcomers, a casting strategy the duo has frequently employed.
A key element that sparked Tsou’s interest in the story was a seemingly simple detail: the protagonist’s left-handedness. “For being left-handed, I found that intriguing,” Tsou explained.”We saw potential in that, to say how would a little six-year-old interpret that in a literal way, and how would that play out? it’s very Little Rascals in a way. There’s a lot of humor that can come from that.”
To portray the mother, Shu-Fen, Tsou cast Tsai, a celebrated Taiwanese actress and model who has twice received the Golden Bell Award, Taiwan’s equivalent of an emmy. Tsou was initially drawn to Tsai after hearing her express a desire to take on new challenges in a post-acceptance speech interview. “When I heard that, I reached out to her to say we have this script, and it’s something you’ve never acted before: a mother role. So she took the challenge right away.”
The role of I-Jing was filled by Ye, who, despite her young age, already possessed three years of commercial acting experience. Tsou noted Ye’s professionalism and natural presence, praising her “very natural performance.”
The casting of I-Ann proved particularly serendipitous. Tsou discovered Ma, a college student with no prior acting experience, on Instagram.While acknowledging the risk inherent in casting a first-timer, Baker emphasized Ma’s immediate talent. “As an editor, seeing this footage of Shih-Yuan Ma, you would never know she was a first-time actor. Sometimes as an editor with first time actors, you have to manipulate the performance through cutting; not with her. You could hold on a shot forever with her. I am so excited to see where her career goes, as if this is her first film, she’s going to shine.”
Baker lauded Shih-Ching’s casting choices, stating, “Shih-Ching did an amazing job casting this film. We love ensemble casts, but we’ve learned over the years that an ensemble cast will only work if there is not a weak link, and there is not a weak link in this cast.”
To foster a cohesive performance across varying experience levels,Tsou adopted a hands-off directorial approach,eschewing extensive rehearsals. Rather, she provided the script and encouraged the actors to draw upon their personal experiences. ”I don’t like to over-rehearse actors,” she said, “so in this film I didn’t have any rehearsal with them.” She asked the cast “to put in their own life experience. They’re all native taiwanese people from Taiwan, so they all have very similar family dynamics.” The result, she explained, was a collaborative creation where “they worked together to create the film.”
This approach reflects a filmmaking method developed over two decades, beginning with their 2000 micro-budget film Take Out, which they largely created themselves for a budget of $3,000.”Take Out was so autonomous,” Baker recalled. “We made the film just the two of us… So we had to wear so many hats and we had to learn so many things.I think that those lessons that we learned have been applied to every film since, and you can see a lot of it play out in Left-Handed Girl.The very fact that we were using iPhones, and Shih-Ching did her own casting.Everything has been applied to Left-Handed in such a wonderful way.”
Tsou added that their consistent approach involves “going to the community and working in a real location, and also street casting.” This dedication to authenticity and collaboration continues to define their filmmaking style.
