Shuhua’s Acting Debut and Breaking Free From the ‘American Girl’ Label: Director Feng-i Fiona Roan on Toronto Title ‘Happily Ever After’

“Happily Ever After,” the follow-up feature from Taiwanese director Feng-i Fiona Roan, is bowing in the Toronto Film Festival’s Special Presentations lineup, arriving amid heightened attention following the success of her acclaimed debut, “American Girl.”

“American Girl” premiered in the Asian Future section of the Tokyo International Film Festival before earning seven Golden Horse Award nominations and winning three prizes, including best new director. During the Golden Horse celebrations, Roan received a gentle but prescient warning from Oscar-winning filmmaker Ang Lee.

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“Director Ang Lee reminded me that the second film is always the hardest,” Roan tells Variety. “Being able to present my second feature at TIFF as its first stop is very meaningful to me. I also hope it can open up more conversations and opportunities.”

Drawn from Roan’s childhood and family history, “American Girl” earned widespread acclaim but also prompted some observers to question whether the filmmaker could move beyond autobiography.

“From the development stage of ‘Happily Ever After,’ I was determined to break away from that label,” Roan says. “I was entering a different phase of my life and was even planning my own wedding at the time. This fictional story went from nothing to a complete screenplay within a year, but it also captured the emotional shifts that my friends and I were experiencing at different stages of our lives.”

“Happily Ever After” closely examines the subtle emotional dynamics between two sisters. The story initially placed greater emphasis on the younger sister, played by Shuhua, before evolving into a dual-protagonist narrative.

“While developing the screenplay, I watched ‘Frozen’ for a second time and suddenly realized how remarkably well it balances the narrative arcs of its two sister protagonists,” Roan says. “I went back and analyzed the screenplay for that reason, then used what I learned to refine the rhythm of my own script.”

Beyond the expectations surrounding Roan’s second feature, the film has attracted attention across the film, television and music industries for casting K-pop star Shuhua in her film debut.

“When we met Shuhua, we only asked her to read two scenes,” Roan says. “Her confidence and personality came through so naturally that we decided on the spot.”

During production, Roan sought to create an authentic sense of family among the cast. Rather than addressing Shuhua by her real name or her character’s name, everyone on set simply called her “little sister.” Before filming began, Shuhua was also invited to name the cat that appears as the family pet.

Shuhua’s own experience as the middle child in a family of three daughters gave her a deeper emotional connection to the role, according to Roan.

“I gave her only one note: Before making any movement or delivering any line, she had to have a motivation,” Roan says. “Only after you have convinced yourself can your performance move the audience.”

Asked how she hopes international audiences will view contemporary Taiwanese cinema, Roan draws on her experience living in the U.S. and her observations from attending international film festivals.

“Filmmakers from the previous generation, such as Hou Hsiao-hsien and Edward Yang, naturally still have enormous international visibility,” she says. “Their particular time and circumstances allowed them to pursue their artistic practices to an extremely high degree, and those achievements have secured their place in film history.”

Roan believes her own generation brings a stronger awareness of genre and a greater willingness to experiment with different forms.

“Every festival feels a little like a social experiment,” she says. “We bring different stories to international audiences and observe how they respond and what kinds of thoughts those stories provoke.”

Alongside the classics of Taiwanese cinema, Roan cites French New Wave pioneer Agnès Varda as a formative influence. She also points to Ozu Yasujirō’s cycle of films about fathers marrying off their daughters, Kore-eda Hirokazu’s family dramas and Greta Gerwig’s explorations of women’s inner lives.

“My favorite film this year is ‘The World of Love,’ by South Korean director Yoon Ga-eun,” Roan says.

During the early development of “Happily Ever After,” Roan immersed herself in reading, including Taiwanese author Kevin Chen’s novel “Ghost Town.” Stories exploring family, identity and self-worth fed into her new fictional direction while allowing her to retain the emotional honesty of her earlier work.

As the film meets its first international audience in Toronto, Roan is eager to exchange ideas with filmmakers from around the world. Above all, she hopes “Happily Ever After” will spark a conversation around the question embedded in its title: What does it mean to be happy on your own terms?