Shih-Ching Tsou () is a Taiwan-born film producer, director, and actress. She co-directed the film ''

Take Out A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...

'' (2004) with Sean Baker. She also produced Baker's other films ''

Starlet Starlet may refer to: Entertainment * ''Starlet'' (film), a 2012 independent dramatic film directed by Sean Baker * '' The Starlet'', reality TV show * The Starlets, a girl group Transport * Toyota Starlet, a car produced between 1973 an ...

'' (2012), ''

Tangerine The tangerine is a type of citrus fruit that is orange in color. Its scientific name varies. It has been treated as a separate species under the name ''Citrus tangerina'' or ''Citrus'' × ''tangerina'', or treated as a variety of ''Citrus retic ...

'' (2015), ''

The Florida Project ''The Florida Project'' is a 2017 American Coming of age story, coming-of-age Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Sean Baker (filmmaker), Sean Baker and written by Baker and Chris Bergoch. It stars Willem Dafoe, Brooklynn Prince ...

'' (2017) and '' Red Rocket'' (2021).

Early life

Born and raised in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

. After graduating from

Fu Jen Catholic University Fu Jen Catholic University (FJU, FJCU or Fu Jen; or ) is a private Catholic university in Xinzhuang, New Taipei City, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1925 in Beijing at the request of Pope Pius XI and re-established in Taiwan in 1961 at ...

, Tsou came to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

for her master's degree in Media Studies at

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

Career

Shih-Ching Tsou is a New York City-based filmmaker. Tsou's first film ''Take Out'' which she co-directed, co-wrote, co-produced with Sean Baker. The film had its world premiere at the

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...

in 2004, then it went on to screen at the

Nashville Film Festival The Nashville Film Festival (NashFilm), held annually in Nashville, Tennessee, is the oldest running film festival in the South and one of the oldest in the United States. In 2016, Nashville Film Festival received more than 6,700 submissions from ...

where it won Regal Cinemas Dreammaker Award. It was released in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

in the United States on June 6, 2008. In 2009, it was nominated for the

Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award The Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award is presented to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $500,000 by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It is named after a ...

.Spirit Awards ‘09: 'Take Out' Director Shih-Ching Tsou
, IndieWIRE, February 19, 2009, retrieved 2011-03-26 ''Take Out'' has its 4K restoration release b
Criterion Collections
in 2022. Tsou went on to work with Baker on his third film, ''

,'' as an executive producer and costume designer. The film had its world premiere at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

on March 11, 2012. The film was released in a

on September 9, 2012 by

Music Box Films Music Box Films is a distributor of foreign and independent film in theatrical, DVD/Blu-ray, and video-on-demand markets in the United States. Based in Chicago, Music Box Films is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corpo ...

. Tsou along with Baker and the ensemble cast were given the

Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award The Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award is presented to the ensemble cast, director and casting director of a film by the Film Independent, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent film and independent filmmakers. It is named after dire ...

in 2013. Baker and Tsou collaborated again on ''

'', where she served as a producer on the film as well as the costume designer, art department, additional camera operator, and made her acting debut in the film. It was filmed completely on

iPhone 5s The iPhone 5S (stylized and marketed as iPhone 5s) is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the seventh generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 5, and unveiled in September 2013, alongside the iPhone 5C. ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

2015 Sundance Film Festival The 2015 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 22 to February 1, 2015. ''What Happened, Miss Simone?'', a biographical documentary film about American singer Nina Simone, opened the festival. Comedy-drama film '' Grandma'', directed by P ...

on January 23, 2015. The film was released in a

Magnolia Pictures Magnolia Pictures is an American film distributor. It is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment 2929 Entertainment, LLC. is an American integrated media and entertainment company co-founded by billionaire entrepreneur ...

on July 10, 2015. After Tangerine, Tsou produced Baker's latest feature ''

'', the film premiered in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and kn ...

section of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 6, 2017, by A24. It won at least 38 and was nominated for at least 104 awards including an

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while work ...

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for four Academy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, ...

. Tsou is currently working on her first solo directorial feature, ''Left-Handed Girl'', a family drama set in a night market in Taipei, Taiwan. Her latest producing work is Baker's feature ''Red Rocket, which'' premiered at the

2021 Cannes Film Festival The 74th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 6 to 17 July 2021, after having been originally scheduled from 11 to 22 May 2021. American director Spike Lee was invited to be the head of the jury for the festival for a second time, after t ...

and has received rave reviews. In 2021, along with other members of the ''Red Rocket'' team, she received the Producer Award at the Hamilton Behind the Camera Awards. Tsou was one of the finalists of 2009 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise Honoree in Filmmaking. She served as a programmer for the

and was a member of the jury in 2019.

Filmography

Film

References

External links

* * Shih-Ching Tsou'
Talent Guide
on FilmIndependent.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsou, Shih-Ching American film directors of Taiwanese descent Artists from Taipei Film directors from Taipei Living people Fu Jen Catholic University alumni Taiwanese emigrants to the United States The New School alumni Year of birth missing (living people)