27/06/2024 - The first feature by Singaporean filmmaker Nelicia Low is a gripping atmospheric thriller set in the fencing world

Zijie is a young fencer longing to reconnect with his estranged older brother Zihan, who mysteriously returns after seven years in juvenile prison for killing an opponent during a fencing match. Zijie believes Zihan’s insistence that he is innocent and secretly decides to help him, defying their mother’s efforts to erase Zihan from their lives. In return, Zihan starts to train Zijie in fencing and Zijie improves immensely, getting selected to compete at the upcoming National Championships. As the brothers grow closer, their mother finds out that they have reunited and is furious at Zijie, yet Zijie stubbornly sticks by his brother. But Zihan’s hostile past is triggered after an argument, leaving Zijie to finally question whether his beloved brother might be a violent sociopath after all.

This is the synopsis of Pierce [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Nelicia Low
film profile], the first feature by Singaporean director Nelicia Low, which is having its world premiere in the Crystal Globe Competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, taking place from 28 June-6 July.

The director explains, "While I was in Taipei shooting a short film in 2014, a young man caused a nationwide tragedy when he stabbed multiple people on the Taipei subway. While the man’s parents publicly denounced their son, his younger brother continued to stand by him and was in denial of his older brother’s horrific crime. His younger brother’s reaction reminded me of my relationship with my autistic brother, and inspired me to write Pierce. When I was young, not understanding my brother’s condition, I idealised him to be a loving, caring older brother. It was only when I grew up that I realised our relationship was made up in my head. Accepting this has been a painful journey for me, and is the same one that Zijie takes in Pierce. The question I ponder both in the film and real life is - how do one’s feelings of love and loyalty change when one knows the truth? Does the truth really matter?"

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. Her second short film Freeze premiered at Clermont-Ferrand and went on to screen at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Busan, as well as over 70 international film festivals around the world. Low 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.

The film has been produced by Sam Chua Weishi and Jeremy Chua for Singapore's Potocol, John M Lo for Singapore's Elysiüm Ciné, Patrick Mao Huang for Taiwan's Flash Forward Entertainment and Izabela Igel for Poland’s Harine Films, and co-produced by Evril Kuo and Hsu Kuo-Lun with participation by Andrzej Lucjanek for Poland's Fixafilm. International sales are handled by US company Magnify.

Check out our exclusive poster and clips below: