Shuhua Debuts in 'Happily Ever After' at TIFF — SkimNews
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- 'Happily Ever After', Feng-i Fiona Roan's second feature, premieres at TIFF's Special Presentations lineup as the follow-up to her debut 'American Girl,' which earned seven Golden Horse nominations and won three prizes including best new director
- Ang Lee warned Roan at the Golden Horse ceremony that 'the second film is always the hardest,' prompting her determination to break beyond the 'American Girl' autobiographical label
- K-pop star Shuhua makes her film debut after being cast on the spot following a two-scene read, playing one of two sisters in a narrative Roan restructured into a dual-protagonist arc after rewatching 'Frozen' to study its screenplay balance
- Shuhua's real-life experience as the middle child of three daughters deepened her emotional connection to the role, and the cast addressed her as 'little sister' on set rather than by her real or character name
- Roan gave Shuhua a single direction before shooting: find a motivation before every movement and line, and only then will the performance move an audience
- Roan named South Korean director Yoon Ga-eun's 'The World of Love' as her favorite film of the year, citing Agnès Varda, Ozu Yasujirō, Kore-eda Hirokazu, and Greta Gerwig alongside Taiwanese masters Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang as formative influences
Why it matters: Roan's deliberate pivot from autobiography to a fictional sister drama — anchored by a K-pop star's film debut — is being positioned as the test of whether she can sustain an international career beyond her debut's Golden Horse sweep, and whether her generation of Taiwanese filmmakers can convert genre experimentation into festival-stage visibility alongside the Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang legacy.
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