SHUYI WORKS - My Sister is a Butterfly

17-year-old Giddy spends a week in England seeking reconnection with her estranged sister, Julie. On the night of Julie’s 24th birthday, Giddy faces a tumultuous transition into adulthood. The sisters clash as old patterns and memories remerge.

My Sister is a Butterfly is a story about grief and growing pains told through an exploration of queer Malaysian diasporic experiences against the backdrop of an escalating climate crisis.

Directed by Emily Ong Shuyi

Written by Emily Ong & Tom Blackman

Produced by Arunveer Kahlon & Emily Ong

Featuring Charmaine Cheong | Emily Ong

Klara Grapci-Germizaj | Christelle Elwin

Charlie Murray | Chowee Leow | Lee Si Jin

Jody Low | Lim Sheng Hui | Alfred Loh

Giddy and Julie come from a region that will face uninhabitable climate conditions much sooner than Britain. This story offers my perspective on the lasting impact of Empire and the decaying future we’re heading into.

Somewhere between a time capsule and a meditation on my experiences, this story was inspired by the years I spent navigating my early 20s in a small town in England as a student. My sense of self was splitting into two distinct time/space. It created a gap in which I wasn't able to reconcile the traumas of my childhood with the hostility and coming-of-ageness I was experiencing as a young adult in England.

It was through my readings of decolonial and Postcolonial writers that gave me a framework to understand how my life was shaped by forces I hadn't realised had names and faces. It's how I realised the climate crisis is also inextricably linked to centuries of European colonialism. These feelings amalgamated into an existential anxiety and writing this film was an act of purging the hopelessness I felt at the time. If it truly worked is an ongoing discussion.

ARTWORK

The original poster (on the left) is a collaboration with my friend and talented artist, Akilah Chambers. Together we conceptualised the sisters 'in the woods' as a metaphorical visualisation of their relationship to each other as well as to their natural environment.

Akilah conjured these wonderful charcoal and pastel drawings that were scanned in so that I could digitally combine the layers and play around with type and colour to complete the final piece.

In both posters I wanted the artwork for the film to feel like one of those Malaysian folklore storybook covers I used to read in school. The use of colour and the style of text is heavily inspired by this.

Other influences include the merging of reality and supernatural explored in Eng Hwee Chu's paintings and Francisco de Goya's etching prints.

THE TEAM

Producer & Location Manager Arunveer Kahlon | Casting Ella McDonald | Acting Coach Jenny Eastop |