Sylvia Chang said that "Murmur of the Hearts" is such a very emotional film that it became a big challenge for her to edit, taking nine months for her to finish the job.
"I was not telling a story. I had to tell an emotion. Emotion is difficult," said Chang.
The veteran actress said that she cut out a lot of dialogues to let the audience feel what they wanted to and to give them thinking space.
"All the images came to me: The boy meeting his mother in his dreams, the boxer fighting with his trainer. It touched me very deeply," she said of the movie about individuals all coming from a small Taiwanese island.
Chang said that rarely do you read about men writing what is in their hearts, how much they miss their family and how much they wanted to communicate with their loved ones.
At first, Chang thought the project would be very easy, being a small production, and jumped right into it.
It has been five years since Chang last stepped behind the camera. She co-wrote the script and directed the modestly budgeted drama.
The Taiwan-born and Hong Kong-based actress noted that every film has a "rhythm" and that she edited the movie "as a poem."
The "Murmur of the Hearts" opened the 39th Hong Kong International Film Festival on March 23 and will run until April 6.
The film stars Isabella Leong and Joseph Chang.
One of Asia's best-known actresses, Chang does not appear in the film, but the festival will highlight some of her most popular roles in a career that spans more than 40 years.