In the past few years, Malaysian director Chui Mui Tan has attracted much attention at various international film festivals, and gradually stepped into the international vision. She has also been viewed as a staple of the Malaysian New Wave Cinema.

　　

The 11th BJIFF Beijing Film Panorama will introduce three feature films and six short films directed by Tan, and these films have almost covered her entire creating career so far. 

　　

Now, let us follow these films to feel such an extremely talented female director and the movie world she has created.

In her personal profile, Tan introduces herself like this: “At age of 5, Chui Mui Tan made a small wooden stool. At 8 she drove a pick up truck onto a column. At 9 she printed a children magazine. At 12 she finished reading an Encyclopedia. At 17 she has a column in a student weekly paper. At 21 she got a computer animation degree. At 27 she made her first film Love Conquers All. At 38 she gave birth to a child. At 41 she decided to learn Martial art.”

 

With one after another ordinary but interesting details of life, she has completed a profile of herself, and is talking about her connection to the world, which is exactly the reason why her films are touching.

Tan, who is 43 years old this year, directed her first film in 2003. In almost two decades, she has won numerous awards and enjoyed a good reputation. However, she always keeps a cautious attitude towards feature films, and only created three after becoming famous. She believes that making movies is to reshape herself, and even admits that she likes "small and beautiful" short films more than feature films. Instead of telling those pretentious, grand and perfect things, Tan often constructs a fleeting feeling through fragmented and daily philosophizing. 

 

In 2006, Chui Mui Tan, along with three Malaysian directors, set up Da Huang Pictures. Tan, who likes Lao-Zhuang philosophy, translates “Da Huang” as “starting from scratch”, adding that “Huang” has two meanings, which can be explained as either desolation or absurdity. Indeed, in a certain sense, “Da Huang” has achieved a wave of cinema that belongs to Malaysia - we can see all characteristics of the New Wave from them: innovative images, literati temperament with thoughts, and the spirit of mutual support. Da Huang Pictures is stepping up its efforts to grow and expand in Malaysia. 

 

 

Barbarian Invasion is a new feature film of Chui Mui Tan, which recently won a jury prize of the Golden Goblet Awards at the Shanghai International Film Festival and sparked heated discussions. This film is one of the films in the B2B (Back to Basics) project presented by Heaven Pictures and Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Limited (HKIFFS), and distributed by HKIFF Collection. 

 

The theme “low cost and high quality” of the project is perfectly performed by Tan. In the film, she uses many shadow details and physical perceptions to extend personal experiences into a double theatrical structure. There are identity and myths, and violent fables and dreams - it is wonderful to show the perception of life to the world lightly. 

 

 

The slow-paced feature film Year Without a Summer is even regarded by the audience as a poetic sketch that is similar to Apichatpong's works. 

 

Her first feature film Love Conquers All tells a forbidden relationship. This film has an obvious narrative tendency of a female director, because it understands the beauty of girls and shows it, but in the end it sacrifices mercilessly to an exploitative love scam. 

 

 

Chui Mui Tan is good at starting from life experience and feelings, and her inspiration is naturally inseparable from her hometown, the Malaysian Chinese community and the bottom society where she comes from.

 

Her short films South of South and One Future are both closely related to the Malaysian social context and the past and present life of the Malaysian Chinese. As a director, she pays attention to the past and future of individuals, groups, and the society. 

 

Everyday Everyday is a short film with a simple storyline, which shows the life moments of middle-aged women. They have no history or future, but every line and every action can display an abundance of character emotions, as well as depressive or absurd daily lives; A Tree in Tanjung Malim and The Beautiful Losers are both focused on women with girlish temperament, brilliant but sorrowful, demonstrating the aura and talent of this creator. 

 

Occasionally, Tan deliberately stays away from her own life experience. The short film Company of Mushrooms appears to be her work that escapes the label of feminism at the first glance: Several middle-aged men are telling stories of disloyalty in a dinner table conversation. They lower their moral bottom line, brag about love affairs outside the family, and show their contempt for women. But the unexpected ending has made viewers find that this film still can't escape Tan’s "tricks" and her unique feminist perspective. 

 

Tan, who refuses to be defined by labels, has now become one of the labels of the Malaysian New Wave Cinema. Let's see how this female director uses her works to express herself, her hometown and thinking, and how she can bring viewers exotic surprises that they did not notice in the past.