“I remember the first film I ever directed—it was about bullying among teenage girls, set in the backdrop of a boarding school abroad and how the concept of hierarchy affects relationships between different age groups,” reveals Eu, who grew up in the UK and was sent to boarding school during her formative years. “Pasak was my graduation film, which I completed while I was in Malaysia. It was about my own fears for the future, distilled into a woman who was stuck in life, feeling lost with her marriage, her pregnancy, and desperately wanted a way out. [The film] was based on situations that evoke an emotion in me; whether it’s pleasure, anger, pain or fear, these are things I tap into when it comes to my films.”

Though Eu’s take on the horror genre is decidedly different, that didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy the classics, and one aspect that she finds fascinating about the genre is how liberating it was for actresses to perform in roles that diverge from the atypical “damsel in distress”, the “submissive, dutiful housewife”, and the “lovestruck heroine”.

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“Even when Hollywood was at its most misogynistic, horror was one of the few genres where women can be outside of the box,” says Eu. “Be it the villain or a character with neuroses, they were still roles that didn’t confine women to traditionally ‘feminine’ roles. Where they could be unruly, rule-breaking women that were different, loud, violent, and aggressive—it was a place where they are allowed to be something else other than society’s feminine ideal. This is something that I enjoy exploring, even to this day.”

Running her own production company, Ghost Grrrl Pictures, alongside company director and co-producer Fei Ling Foo, the two take a page from the “Riot grrrl” movement of the early 1990s, which was an underground feminist punk movement that combined feminism, punk music, and politics.

“At Ghost Grrrl Pictures, [Foo] and I make it a point to treat our stories and our characters with the utmost care and respect,” says Eu. “We deal with the fear that society has on the female body as well as women in general. While certain topics are seen as taboo, our films are how we want to dispel this fear and misunderstanding towards women—like, oh, so you’re afraid of the female body? Then let me show you a monstrous version of it.

“But of course, there are subjects that need a more delicate touch. When we write our scripts, we’re careful about the folklores that we’re talking about because they involve cultural values intrinsic to a region.”

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Eu’s film, the fifth Malaysian production selected for Cannes, became the first to win the grand prize at the Critics’ Week Grand Prix 2023, making Tiger Stripes a significant milestone for Malaysian independent cinema. And it’s set to soar even higher now that is a contender for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars.

“It’s surreal because it’s every filmmaker’s dream to enter the Cannes Film festival, right? But I think what I really want to boast and be proud of is that I got to show the world my three talented actresses—to see them enjoy themselves, watch themselves on the big screen and have people come up to them to say that they enjoyed their performances. I cannot think of a better way to have Malaysia’s stories, and its people, put on the global map.”

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