In 1980s Taiwan, a young woman’s trip to the cinema – to see Dario Argento’s Deep Red – awakens sexual desires and celluloid dreams.

With its explicit references to both Edward Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day (MIFF 1992, 2008) and Yang Chia-yun’s lurid 1981 revenge thriller The Lady Avenger – not to mention the watermelons that nod to Tsai Ming-liang’s The Wayward Cloud (MIFF 2005) – Birdy Wei-ting Hung’s fantasy-tinged ode to sexual awakening is in playful conversation with Taiwanese cinematic history, reframing familiar screen images through a decidedly female gaze.