Oscar-winning director Sean Baker on Thursday attended Taiwan Cinema Night at the Cannes Film Festival to support a Taiwanese film he contributed to.
Baker, who this year won four Academy Awards for Anora, was part of a packed house at the premiere of Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), which he cowrote with the film’s Taiwanese director, Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎).
He has collaborated with Tsou several times since her first film, Take Out, a 2004 production that she codirected with Baker.
Photo: CNA
Although he did not take part in the filming of Left-Handed Girl, Baker said he was amazed by what Taiwanese filmmakers had achieved and called it an honor to work with the team.
Left-Handed Girl, Tsou’s first solo-directed feature, centers on a single mother, who runs a stall at a night market in Taipei, and her two young daughters, exploring their struggles and conflicts.
In an interview released by Cannes, Tsou said each of the three characters represents “a fragment of myself,” revealing that the idea for for the film predated her 2004 debut.
The inspiration for the title came from a remark by her grandfather: “Left hand is the devil’s hand and you’re not supposed to use it.”
Tsou and Baker developed a script in Taiwan based on that idea, but due to a lack of funding, the project was shelved.
Tsou described the film’s eventual release as “a long time coming.”
The film was selected for the festival’s Critics’ Week section, standing out among 1,000 submissions from 102 countries. It is to be screened five times during the event.
More than 100 people attended Taiwan Cinema Night, including Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, actor Lily Franky and Taiwanese model-turned-actress Lin Chi-ling (林志玲).
Taiwanese titles including Yi Yi (一一) by the late Edward Yang (楊德昌), 96 Minutes (96分鐘) and Gravity, Movement (重_力) are also being screened at the French film festival, which runs until Saturday.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
LIKE-MINDED COUNTRIES: Despite the threats from outside, Taiwan and Lithuania thrived and developed their economies, former president Tsai Ing-wen said Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday thanked Lithuania for its support of Taiwan, saying that both countries are united as partners in defending democracy. Speaking at a reception organized by the Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group welcoming her on her first visit to the Baltic state, Tsai said that while she was president from 2016 to last year, many Lithuanian “friends” visited Taiwan. “And I told myself I have to be here. I am very happy that I am here, a wonderful country and wonderful people,” Tsai said. Taiwan and Lithuania are in similar situations as both are neighbors to authoritarian countries, she
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to visit the UK during her ongoing European trip, which originally included only Lithuania and Denmark, her office said today. Tsai departed Taiwan for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark, marking her second visit to the continent since her two-term presidency ended in May last year. Her office issued a statement today saying that Tsai would also visit the UK "for a few days," during which she is to meet with UK politicians and Taiwanese professionals, and visit academic and research institutions. Following Tsai's stop in Denmark, she is to visit the
RSS