Documentary
Filmmaking
My work spans psychology, broadcasting, and performance - into documentary and conversation. The format changes, but the focus remains on acknowledging your identity, raising your voice, and telling your story.
SPICES & SILKS: THE BABA NYONYA LEGACY
Beyond the Heritage
While as much a personal journey into my heritage, my documentary also asks: what happens when the traditions that define a culture become incresingly difficult to pass on?
Like many I inherited fragments of a culture that shaped my parents and generations before...but I never really knew what they meant. I was told "You are Malaysian-Chinese"...not one, not the other, a blend of both, what's more you are a Nyonya.
Through food, fashion and family, I speak to those who carry their culture ...my culture...forward taking Spices and Silks beneath the tourism to understand the identity that still define generations.
In an increasingly globalized world where traditions become diluted, the Baba Nyonya story raises the universal question of what parts of ourselves do we preserve?
Experiencing a culture
Making this film gave me access to people, places, and perspectives of those who knew my grandparents, and trusted me enough to share their stories. Through their memories I was able to taste, create and learn about the Peranakan lifestyle my parents left behind when they migrated to the UK - so-called "The Ancestral land" by my Great-Grand-Aunt!
The question about what gets passed on is on every diaspora audience recognises immediately, and one being asked of a specific culture with the access to answer it properly.
"Refuses the 'exotic' Lens"
(Indie Film Dimension)
"...reflects on fragility and hope, on allowing culture to speak through routine, and on the responsibility that comes with telling a story that belongs to a community rather than an individual."
(Hollywood Gates)
"...a process shaped by listening, restraint, and respect for the people whose stories are being told."
(Action Rep)
THROUGH HER EYES: ALEXANDRA STEED
Ordinary people, extraordinary achievements
In my work I have had the privilege to meet so many in the field of wellbeing doing their best to make positive changes in the world. Yet too often, because they aren't in "Sport" or "Film" or what the media likes to shine a spotlight on, their efforts remain niche or unrecognised, and yet their work is fundamental to impacting the very core of society's issues. If I can bring their stories to the big screen, perhaps more will hear them.
Documentary featuring Landscape Architect Alexandra Steed who founded URBAN and is driving the focus to repairing our broken relationship with nature as well as change the face of the male dominated architecture industry.
"Through Her Eyes" is a broader project featuring ordinary people doing extraordinary things - these are their stories.
DR AUDREY TANG
BUILDING WELLBEING & CONFIDENCE
Award-Winning Author & Broadcaster
Psychologist, Leadership Trainer & Keynote Speaker
Media Comment & Campaign Partner
Documentary Filmmaker