High school fencer Zijie is shocked to learn that his older brother, Zihan, is being released early from prison. Zijie’s mother, who is about to marry a kind, wealthy man named Zhuang, wants to erase or downplay Zihan’s existence. But Zijie remembers his older brother as the one who saved him from drowning and the winner of three national fencing championships. Was Zihan really a psychopath who deliberately killed his opponent, as their mother claims, or was it an accident? If fencing is ‘chess with swords,’ requiring strategic anticipation of the opponent’s moves, the characters in Pierce are players, each moving their own pieces on the board of truth. In her directorial debut, former fencer Nelicia Low captures the dangerous yet beautiful art of fencing in a tale of brotherhood, earning her the Best Director Award at the 2024 Karlovy Vary Film Festival. (CHOI Eun)