Tan Chui Mui

Actor, Director, Filmmaker

Malaysia

At age of 5, Tan Chui Mui made a small wooden stool. At 8 she drove a pick-up truck onto a column. At 9 she printed a children’s 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.

Born in 1978 in Kuantan, she is the first Malaysian filmmaker who has won prestigious awards in international film festivals such as Busan International Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, and Oberhausen Short Film Festival. She is also the first Malaysian filmmaker invited to the Cannes Cinefondation Residency.

In 2005, she set up Da Huang Pictures and started the Malaysian New Wave.

Mui had also a jury for International Film Festival Rotterdam, Busan Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival, Beijing Independent Film Festival, Hong Kong IFVA Award, Vladivostok International Film Festival, etc.

Besides, she was a mentor for regional filmmaking workshops such as Asian Film Academy, Asean- ROK FLY, South East Asian FilmLab, and Makassar SEA Skrin Academy.

In 2015, she initiated Next New Wave, a brand under NNW Films to design and organize filmmaking related workshop, aims to provide young and growing film talents in Malaysia an unprecedented platform to learn directly from renowned filmmakers in the region.

In 2017, she started SeaShorts, a film festival focused on showing Southeast Asian short films.

At the moment, she is developing a few films, including a personal film called BARBARIAN INVASION, and a love story called I JUST WANT YOU TO LOVE ME.

She still has two pending projects, produced by Jia Zhang Ke, a Ming Dynasty period film IMPERIAL EXAM, and a Contemporary Wuxia film, ALL ABOUT YUYU.