‘Left-Handed Girl’: A Cannes Critics’ Week Highlight with Sean Baker at the Helm

Liam James1 day agoLast Updated: 14 April 2025

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Sean Baker-Produced ‘Left-Handed Girl’ Leads Cannes Critics’ Week Lineup

The Cannes Critics’ Week, a festival sidebar dedicated to showcasing first and second features by directors, revealed its 2025 lineup on Monday.

Competition highlights include *Left-Handed Girl*, the solo directorial debut of Taiwanese filmmaker Shih-Ching Tsou, who is recognized for her long-standing collaboration with Anora director Sean Baker. Tsou co-directed the 2004 film *Take Out* and produced Baker’s *Tangerine*, *The Florida Project*, and *Red Rocket*. Baker co-wrote and edited this Taipei-set urban melodrama, which focuses on a single mother and her two daughters as they navigate life on the fringes of the Taiwanese capital.

Also making its debut in Critics’ Week is Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke with *A Useful Ghost*, a surrealist exploration of motherhood in which a woman reincarnates as a vacuum cleaner. Thai actress Mai Davika Hoorne leads the cast.

European films in competition include *Nino* by Pauline Loquès, featuring the rising Quebecois actor Théodore Pellerin as a young man struggling in the city after misplacing his apartment keys; *Sleepless City* from Spanish director Guillermo Galoe, which tells the story of two close friends facing separation when one must move away; and *Kika* from Belgian filmmaker Alexe Poukine, starring Manon Clavel as a social worker grappling with an unplanned pregnancy shortly after her partner’s death.

Chechen filmmaker Deni Oumar Pitsaev will present *Imago*, an autobiographical documentary that chronicles his efforts to build a modernist home on traditional land in a Georgian valley near the Chechen border. From the Netherlands, Sven Bresser’s debut feature *Reedland* follows a reed cutter whose discovery of a teenage girl’s body leads to a haunting obsession.

Belgian director Laura Wandel will inaugurate the 64th Cannes Critics’ Week with her child custody drama *Adam’s Interest*, presented out of competition in a special screening. The section will conclude with *Dandelion’s Odyssey*, the first animated feature from Japanese director Momoko Seto, which narrates the journey of four dandelions that survive a nuclear explosion and seek a new place to take root. Additionally, French films *Baise en Ville*, directed by Martin Jauvat and described as a “walking road-movie” about an unemployed young man searching for a job to finance driving lessons, and Alice Douard’s debut *Love Letters*, a dramatic comedy about two married women awaiting their first child, will also be screened out of competition.

Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, known for *The Beasts*, will lead the jury for this year’s Critics’ Week, alongside Oscar-winning British actor Daniel Kaluuya, Moroccan journalist Jihane Bougrine, French-Canadian cinematographer Josée Deshaies, and Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara.

Critics’ Week (La Semaine de la Critique) is set to take place from May 14-22, concurrently with the main Cannes Film Festival. Organized by the French film critics’ union, this section is renowned for discovering emerging talent. Many significant figures in international art house cinema began their careers in this sidebar.

Notably, two-time Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach premiered his feature debut *Kes* at Critics’ Week in 1970. Justine Triet, who won the Palme d’Or with *Anatomy of a Fall* in 2023, made her festival debut in Critics’ Week with her second feature, *Victoria*, in 2013. Julia Ducournau also debuted in this section with her first film, *Raw*, in 2016. Ducournau’s follow-up, *Titane*, won the Palme d’Or in 2021, and her third film, *Alpha*, will have its premiere in the festival’s main competition this year.

Stay tuned for more updates from HiCelebNews as we bring you the latest news and highlights from the Critics’ Week lineup:

**COMPETITION**

– *Imago*, Dir. Déni Oumar Pitsaev
– *Kika*, Dir. Alexe Poukine
– *Left-Handed Girl*, Dir. Shih-Ching Tsou
– *Nino*, Dir. Pauline Loquès
– *Reedland*, Dir. Sven Bresser
– *Sleepless City*, Dir. Guillermo Galoe
– *A Useful Ghost*, Dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke

**SPECIAL SCREENINGS**

– *Adam’s Interest*, Dir. Laura Wandel (OPENING FILM)
– *Baise en ville*, Dir. Martin Jauvat
– *Love Letters*, Dir. Alice Douard
– *Dandelion’s Odyssey*, Dir. Momoko Seto (CLOSING FILM)