Her First Joss Stick

Original title: 頭香魂

Directed by Leon Liu

Her First Joss Stick is a narrative short film that combines action-inflected comedy with an atypical female coming-of-age story rooted in local ritual culture. Set on Lunar New Year’s Eve, the film follows A-Feng, a retired sprinter participating in the fiercely competitive first joss stick ritual at her local temple. Having become a full-time housewife, she channels her long-suppressed desire for speed and competition into the bodily act of sprinting toward the sacred, transforming the ritual into a site of personal assertion.