1 week ago
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Michelle Yeoh returns to her home ground and multiplies her talents, taking on five distinct roles set against the vibrant food district backdrop of Penang, Malaysia, in a short film directed by Sean Baker, whose film Anora took home five Oscars in 2025.
The short film, titled Sandiwara, is produced by Baker's longtime collaborators Samantha Quan and Alex Coco, alongside Areta Mak.
Shot on an iPhone over two days, Sandiwara was commissioned by Han Chong, the Malaysia-born, London-based fashion designer behind contemporary label Self-Portrait.
In the film, Yeoh transforms into an enthusiastic bike-riding waitress in flared denim; a pink-haired food influencer in knee-high socks and sneaker platforms; a hardworking char kway teow stall owner in blue silk; a coldly determined food critic in leather; and Lady Orchid, an initially nervous singer in a white sequin dress.
Each character is dressed in Self-Portrait and defined by her own quirks and personality. Their stories converge at George Town’s Red Garden Food Paradise, a bustling hawker centre known for its wide variety of Malaysian cuisine.
For Chong, who grew up in Penang, the film is a tribute to his Malaysian roots. “It’s much deeper than just fashion,” he said on Variety. “Especially when we have Michelle and Sean, I didn’t want to restrict them with a fashion film. The whole idea is to tell a story of my hometown – the culture, the emotion.”
Chong said in another publication, American fashion magazine W Magazine: “Penang has this quiet theatricality: its heritage architecture, its faded grandeur, the sense of history layered into every street.
“It felt like the perfect stage for Sandiwara, which translates to drama in Malay. At the end of the shoot, Penang had become our sixth character in the film.”
The director’s original concept for the short – created in collaboration with Self-Portrait’s artist residency programme, an initiative that brings together artists from different disciplines to create without boundaries – was far more outlandish. It followed a “caper” that saw Yeoh “running from some gangsters”, he told Variety. "It was ridiculous, it was like exactly what someone from the outside would be writing from their couch in West Hollywood."
However, spending time in Penang reshaped his vision. “It was immediately apparent that this is one of the major foodie destinations in the world,” Baker said, adding how he found the city to be “very physically different than what I imagined”.
For Chong, securing Yeoh’s involvement was a dream come true.
“In Asia, she represents possibility, so everyone looks up to her,” Chong said. “And I didn’t just want to do a campaign. I wanted her to represent something for our Asian culture on a global stage and also her talents.”
On Malaysian news publication NST Online, the 63-year-old Ipoh-born Academy Award-winning actress declared her deep personal connection to the film.
"Working on this film has been very moving for me. Han Chong, my proud fellow Malaysian, masterminded the whole thing and very skilfully put Sean and I together for the first time," she said.
Yeoh also described the experience as a "master class" in filmmaking, adding: "This is why we love cinema, why we love doing what we do, and why I will continue to support these incredible outlets of pure creativity."
