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64th Critics' Week: Ava Cahen Presented Shih-Ching Tsou's LEFT-HANDED GIRL at the 23rd FICM

Brian V. Soto

As a follow-up to the alliance that the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) has maintained for 20 years with the Cannes Film Festival's Critics' Week, Ava Cahen, Artistic Director of this Section, presented the film Left-Handed Girl by Taiwanese-American director Shih-Ching Tsou.

Daniela Michel, founder and director of FICM, began with a few words on the alliance between both festivals: "Since 2003, we have presented the films of Critics' Week here. This section discovered Alejandro González Iñáritu and Guillermo del Toro," she noted. “Being invited by Critics' Week is definitely the most important award that a young Mexican director can receive,” she added.

Regarding the film, Daniela Michel said: "This film fascinated me. It's one of my favorites this year. It is very vibrant, very emotional, very beautiful; I think that the Mexican audience will connect with how it approaches family, interpersonal relationships, and work," she concluded.

A single mother and her two daughters return to Taipei to open a stall in a lively night market after several years in the countryside. Each one, in their own way, must adapt to this new environment to make ends meet and maintain family unity. Three generations of family secrets begin to be revealed after her left-handed grandfather tells the youngest daughter (who is also left-handed) never to use her “devil hand.”

At the beginning of her speech, Ava Cahen blushed at the warm reception from Daniela Michel and was very happy to see a full room. “Thank you very much, I'm turning red, but it really is an honor, being at this festival always makes me very happy.”

The film was co-written by Sean Baker, who received the Palme d'Or and the Oscar for Best Picture for Anora (2024), and with whom she also made Take Out in 2004.

"There's a pretty obvious connection between Shih-Ching Tsou's films and Sean Baker's, but Shih-Ching Tsou has her own style and her own stories to tell." Ava Cahen explained, "In this one, she takes us to Taipei with a single mother, a rebellious teenager and a left-handed girl; these three characters will give the film an ultra-dynamic trajectory. It's a family melodrama that is full of unexpected twists. We loved the direction, the script, the editing, the acting, the music, absolutely everything in this film. It has the natural charm of independent productions, but also the pop energy of the  blockbuster.”

The film won the Gan Foundation Prize at Cannes Critics' Week 2025 and has been chosen to represent Taiwan at the 2026 Oscars.