Director Tan Chui Mui on filming action and sisterhood for Miu Miu's Women's Tales

The Malaysian director talks about choreographing fight scenes, being inspired by Brazillian jiu-jitsu and bringing more women into the film world

A scene from Tan Chui Mui Tan's film for Miu Miu Women's Tales #27. Photo: Miu Miu

Since its founding in 1993, Miu Miu, the sister brand to Prada, has focused on handing control to women of all ages. Driven by one of fashion's great intellectuals, Miuccia Prada (nicknamed Miu Miu), the brand is consistent with its pro-women messaging, played out via the distinctive beauty of its clothes.

Another core element of this commitment is the Women's Tales project, which has been inviting two women directors a year since 2011 to create short films, which are then revealed during the spring/summer and autumn/winter Miu Miu shows.

While the directors offer diverse voices and perspectives, the resulting films are united through themes of life, femininity and the shared experiences of being a woman.

Miu Miu offers full creative freedom to each director, only stipulating that the main character must wear its clothes. Over the initiative's 13 years, 26 women have taken part, including Ava DuVernay, So Yong Kim, Chloe Sevigny, Hiam Abbass and Dakota Fanning.

This year, Malaysian director Tan Chui Mui was tapped as number 27, to be followed later in the year by the next female director. Having made her first film in 2006, the award-winning Love Conquers All, Tan has made a film called I Am the Beauty of Your Beauty, I Am the Fear of Your Fear for the Women's Tale initiative.

It unfolds with the protagonist, Gita, leaving her home in China to move to Malaysia. There she finds a tribe of female fighters who teach her how to use her anger for good, while a flower seller introduces her to Kali, the goddess of change, destruction and death.

In the press release, Miu Miu explains: “Through wrestling with what we fear the most, we find our inner strength and our beauty.” Told as a coming-of-age story, Tan’s film is uplifting and ultimately, empowering.

“Last August I got the call from Miu Miu Shanghai. I was in China where one of my films was doing a tour and I felt honoured because I know they pick women directors with distinctive styles,” Tan explains.

Adding her name to the list of accomplished directors was more than a little humbling. “If you ask who the most important female directors are this century, across the world, then these would be the names,” she says.

Tan is known for capturing an intimate, personal mood in her work, and while she often takes moments or elements of her life as a starting point, her films are far from biographical. “I make very personal films that answer my personal questions, but the thing is, usually what you do in the film is the path that you would never choose.

“It is more a fictional biography. It doesn't make sense for me to make a film about where I am now and about my real life, I have no interest in that, but maybe I like the fictionalised version of myself. It gives me the opportunity to explore other paths, other lives, other fantasies.”

One aspect of her life did influence a major component of the film, however. “I practise Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I go to the gym, and I have a lot of other women around me, so it is something that I am familiar with and I was imagining an underground fight club.”

The only stipulation from Miu Miu was that her characters must be clad in its pieces, but Tan admits to being apprehensive about what the chosen collection might offer.

“My instruction was to wait until the new collection was out, and then based on the collection I should make the story. Because we were shooting in Malaysia, I was worried the clothes would look out of place. But the collection suits the story very well.”

With a sporty theme running through the collection, with plenty of layered shorts, tops and jackets, the filmmaker knew it would fit with the story she wanted to tell.

“In some of the other films, the Miu Miu collection became a character in itself, it became part of the story. For my story, because it is set in a women’s gym, the clothes were perfect for them – they give depth to each character.”

Having spent October 2023 writing the story, Tan scheduled the shoot for the end of November. “Apparently, I had the longest shoot schedule compared to the other directors,” she says. “They normally spend five days, and I scheduled for seven days but finished in six.

“It was the longest schedule because of the action sequence, where one minute took one night to film. One day in the middle was just on set, doing rehearsals. We had to rehearse the fight sequence with the cast and the camera all together.”

Part of that generous scheduling may be down to Tan who, in addition to being the director, decided to try her hand at choreographing the action scenes.

“For this short film, the most challenging thing was to design the action. It was my first time as action director,” she admits. “I spent a long time training with the cast before the script was fixed – it was a lot of fun.”

Of course breaking boundaries is precisely what Women's Tales is championing, as well as shining a light on talented – but overlooked – women directors. While she is one of relatively few directors in Malaysia, Tan explains that it can often work to her advantage.

“In general, of course, we see fewer women directors but, for me, as soon as you cross the threshold and actually make a film, you are accepted to a lot of film festivals, because they want to see a film made by a woman. But the threshold is harder for women, to start making films, to get the funding.”

The success or not of female directors is not only down to studios and funding, Tan explains, but also the need for women to be expressive in their support for one another.

“We give a lot of attention to women directors, but we also need a woman audience that wants to see a film directed by a woman.”