Malaysian director Chong Keat Aun’s hotly anticipated Mother Bhumi received its world premiere in the Competition Section of the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival on TIFF’s opening night, October 27. During the post-screening Q&A, he discussed how it channels memories of his childhood during a momentous time in his country’s history.
 
“I was born in this region of Malaysia on the border with Thailand,” said the award-winning director (Snow in Midsummer, Pavane for an Infant). “It used to be controlled by the kingdom of Siam and then it became a British territory for a while. The area is unique in that it’s where Malaysian black magic started. In fact, both my parents were shamans whose job was to dispel curses, so I have always been very interested in magic.”
 
In the late 1990s, Malaysia and Thailand worked out a long-standing border dispute and, in the process, ended up dispossessing many people who had lived in the disputed region, both Thais and Malaysians. The film focuses on Hong Im (played by Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing), a widow who practices shamanistic rituals for the benefit of her neighbors. As some of those neighbors are evicted from land they’ve farmed for generations, she is called upon to mediate their complaints with authorities. Hong Im wields power on two fronts: the bureaucratic—her late husband worked for the government—and the occult. But in the process of helping others, she learns what happened to her husband and loses her purchase on reality. This alienates her young daughter, Koon (Natalie Hsu), who wants to leave the area and live a normal life.
 
Hong Im feels obligated to help not only the dispossessed, but the actually possessed, meaning she carries out what in the West would be called exorcisms, including women who underwent abortions, thus underlining one of the film’s themes, which is the plight of women under male domination. The scenes in which Hong Im conjures the spirits of the dead are enthralling.
 
TIFF Programming Director Ichiyama Shozo, who moderated the Q&A, commented that Hong Im was a real departure for Fan Bingbing, who was returning to TIFF for the first time since 2010, when she won the Best Actress Award for Buddha Mountain. In Mother Bhumi, she wears a false nose and no makeup, rendering her nearly unrecognizable.
 
“It was a big challenge,” she said about taking on the part. “I had to speak Malay, Indonesian, and other languages, but not my mother tongue, and had to practice them with the director. We filmed in the summer, and I must have gotten 100 mosquito bites.” Referring to the two young actors who played her children in the movie, Natalie Hsu and Bai Run-yin, who joined her for the Q&A, she added, “But the process was so much fun and I found a new little brother and sister. We became a big family.”
 
Fan took a moment to call out Japanese actor Lily Franky and director Wayne Wang, who she said were in the audience for the premiere. She had just worked with both men on a new film. Franky was handed a microphone and explained, “[Wang] was here, but he was so jealous about Fan Bingbing working with another director that he left before the Q&A.” He then asked Fan whose idea it was for her to wear a fake nose.
 
“It was my idea,” said Chong, to a smattering of laughter. “The screenplay was completed some time ago, and I originally planned to make this as my sixth or seventh film. [Mother Bhumi is his fourth.] But Fan Bingbing approached my producer and this script came up, and she said she wanted to work on it. I told her I couldn’t work with such a glamorous actress, and she told me I could do anything I wanted with her looks, so I thought about it for a month and this is what I came up with.”
 
Ichiyama asked the two younger actors about their own challenges tackling such difficult roles. Both mentioned language and having to memorize all their lines in a tongue that wasn’t theirs. Hsu, who also starred in Chong’s Pavane for an Infant, which premiered at TIFF in 2024, said she had listened to recordings of the dialogue “so I could get the pronunciation right.” She also discussed trying to master her character’s emotional aspects. “She’s rebellious, always fighting with her mother, and that was a challenge, as well.”
 
Bai said, “Malay is very different from Mandarin, which has many tones. Malay pronunciation is flat, but very beautiful. It was especially difficult when I had to sing a local song.”
 
Before parting, Fan thanked the audience—which contained a sizable contingent of Chinese admirers—for coming to the premiere. “It’s very moving for me to see you all here. It’s been 15 years since I was last here and won the Best Actress Award. The fact that I am here again in a Malaysian film by this director makes it very special for me.”
 
Q&A Session: Competition
Mother Bhumi
Guests: Chong Keat Aun (Director/Screenplay/Original Score), Fan Bingbing (Actor), Natalie Hsu (Actor), Bai Run-yin (Actor)