Pierce

Cì xīn qiè gŭ

The young fencer Zijie’s life is turned upside down when his older brother, Zihan, is unexpectedly released from prison, having served time for killing a fellow athlete during a fencing match. Zijie’s need to reconnect with his brother and believe Zihan’s version of the events that led to his imprisonment is so great that he chooses to ignore the unsettling signs and his mother's persistent attempts to erase Zihan from their lives. In her debut feature, the director, much like a fencer herself, patiently and persistently probes the weak points of the sacred bond between family and brotherhood, delivering a decisive blow to our certainties. Her method is flawless, starting from the realm of family drama and steadily moving toward the edge of a thriller, evoking the unforgettable We Need to Talk About Kevin. Behind their protective masks and uniforms, the characters in Pierce are exposed, vulnerable to their traumas, yet they keep alive the flicker of their desire for life. Even as they bleed.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Direction: Nelicia Low
Script: Nelicia Low
Cinematography: Michal Dymek
Editing: Nelicia Low, Eric Mendelsohn
Sound: Tu Duu-Chih, Wu Shu-Yao
Music: Piotr Kurek
Actors: Liu Hsiu-Fu, Tsao Yu-Ning, Ding Ning
Production: Potocol, Flash Forward Entertainment, Harine Films, Elysium Cine
Producers: Sam Chua Weishi, Jeremy Chua, Patrick Mao Huang, Izabela Igel, John M. Lo
Co-production: Fixafilm
Co-producers: Evril Kuo, Hsu Kuo-Lun, Andrzej Lucjanek
Costumes: Lee Ruo-Shiun
Production Design: Marcus Cheng, Hsu Kuei-Ting
Executive producer: John M. Lo, Daniel Young, Jennifer Jao, Lin Tien Kuei
Format: DCP
Color: Color
Production Country: Singapore, Taiwan, Poland
Production Year: 2024
Duration: 106'
Contact: Magnify
Awards/Distinctions: Best Director – Karlovy Vary IFF 2024

Nelicia Low

Writer-director Nelicia Low grew up in Singapore, where she represented her country as a national fencer for five years. She retired after the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou to chase her childhood dream of being a filmmaker. Nelicia received her MFA in Film Directing at Columbia University in New York in 2018. Her second short film, Freeze, premiered in February 2016 at the Clermont-Ferrand ISFF, and went on to screen at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival 2016, Busan ISFF 2016, Odense IFF 2016, Singapore IFF 2016, as well as over 70 international film festivals around the world. Nelicia was previously selected for the 2018 Singapore IFF’s Southeast Asian Film Lab and the 2019 Less is More European Film Lab, and was chosen for the New Waves: Emerging Voices of Southeast Asia director showcase in 2017. Nelicia’s debut feature film, Pierce, is a fencing-thriller based on her tragically unrequited love for her autistic brother. Despite having grown up with a intellectually disabled brother who is unable to love her and melodramatic parents who begrudgingly love her, Nelicia loves her family deeply. This brings her to ask herself the same question in her films: What is love?

Filmography

2014 Freak (short)
2016 Freeze (short)
2024 Pierce