Zero Chou

Zero Chou is a Taiwanese lesbian filmmaker, born in Keelung on July 24, 1969, who earned a philosophy degree from National Chengchi University and worked as a journalist before turning to documentary and independent film. Her early documentaries, including Corner's and Poles Extremity, won prizes at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival, and her first dramatic feature, Splendid Float (2004), won the Golden Horse Award for Outstanding Taiwanese Film of the Year. She is best known for Spider Lilies (2007), a delicate, visually lyrical film about the reunion of two young women whose childhood connection deepens into love, which won the Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival -- the first Taiwanese film to do so -- and Drifting Flowers (2008), which follows three stories about lesbian love across different generations. Her films are notable for their tender, unhurried depictions of queer women's desire in a Taiwanese context and have been celebrated at LGBTQ+ film festivals internationally. She has been described as one of the only openly lesbian filmmakers working in Taiwan, and one of the most significant lesbian filmmakers in East Asian cinema.