Alumna Nelicia Low '18 to Direct Feature Debut ‘Pierce'

Alumna Nelicia Low '18 will direct the sports drama Pierce. The film, which was also written by Low, will mark her feature debut and is scheduled to begin production in Taiwan in January 2022. It is supported by prestigious funds, including the Hubert Bals HBF+Europe Minority Co-Production Support, a Purin Pictures Production Grant, and the Taipei Film Commission.

Pierce follows high school fencer Jie who, when his mysterious and dangerous older brother is released from prison, believes he has changed and helps him, defying their mother’s attempts to erase him from their lives.

Nelicia Low grew up in multilingual Singapore, where she was born with a thirst for stories. She craved many films that were banned and constantly shipped VCDs to watch them. At 13, she won second prize at a nation-wide music video competition, and has been making films ever since. She represented Singapore as a National Fencer for 6 years and retired at 20 after the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou to focus on filmmaking. She is based in New York and Taiwan. Having grown up with an autistic brother in a complicated family, Low's films are not about the greatness of love, but that even destructive, detrimental forms of love are ultimately love as well.