Perhaps this philosophy underpins her success in the Malaysian film scene. The 43-year-old recently released her third feature film, “Barbarian Invasion“, which just finished its 10-day screening at the LFS Coliseum cinema on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Kuala Lumpur.

Born in a small, scenic fishing village in Sungai Ular, Kuantan, Tan was inspired by her second sister, who loved to tell stories.

“We lived in a kampung house with the toilet outside, near the river. My second sister used to be afraid to go to the toilet by herself, so she would always ask my third sister to accompany her, and in return, she would tell her stories,” she says.

“We created our own children’s magazine and we even wanted to make a movie, but we didn’t have a camera then,” says Tan, who went on to do a film animation course at Multimedia University after Form Five.

In “Barbarian Invasion”, Moon, the lead character played by Tan, struggles with her identity as she deals with motherhood and the breakdown of her marriage. For Tan, identity is a form of storytelling.

“The ‘self’ is made up of stories we tell ourselves and others. We believe in this story but it is ultimately fiction, as it is usually quite far from the truth,” she says.

According to her, humans cannot help but be drawn to other people’s stories. “There is no real beginning and end to a narrative; one usually chooses an arbitrary moment in hindsight to construct its structure.”

She also believes storytelling is an important skill, as its transformative power can be used or abused to achieve one’s objective.

“You can tell a child a story about an honest man who got rewarded, or you could tell one about how he was punished despite his honesty. The stories we hear as children have an especially huge impact on us.”

So what is the most empowering part of storytelling?

“Given that the ‘self’ is a construct, one can write their own script for their lives,” she says thoughtfully. “I don’t just make films for the sake of making films; I use my films as a means to change my life.”

Besides being inspired by her journey into motherhood, “Barbarian Invasion” reflects Tan’s personal quest in reconciling the mind and body. In the movie, Moon undergoes this journey through her martial-arts training.

“The most common disease now is the separation of mind and body. We use our body as a means of transportation – to our workplace, for example – but we seem to have lost the love and respect for our bodies,” she says.

This has become more prominent during the pandemic as most people no longer have to commute to work, rendering the body “useless”.

“When we lose touch with our bodies, we lose touch with ourselves,” she says. “That’s where martial arts and other art forms come in. There’s no separation of thought and movement; it happens simultaneously.”

Tan adds that more and more jobs these days tend to neglect the body and, as a result, people often get frustrated in life without knowing why.

As for the film industry, she says one of the main challenges is the lack of good scripts.

“Besides being entertained, we ideally want to see films that expand our horizons and change our perspective,” she says.

“Before social media, we had film critics, people with more knowledge who could teach you about films. Now, the algorithm feeds you more of what you’re already interested in. This makes it harder to be exposed to new things.

“We live in a world where knowledge is so accessible, we feel like we know everything, when it is in fact the other way around.”

Tan says in order to make authentic films, filmmakers need to pay attention to people and their surroundings.

“If you look around, there are a lot of stories that can be told but we’re not capturing them.”

Asked about her plans for her next film, Tan says she has been considering a science-fiction movie for some time now.

“Due to the pandemic, we are moving at an even faster rate towards a future dominated by artificial intelligence. I would like to make a film that explores humanity within that framework.”

For those who have yet to watch “Barbarian Invasion”, Tan says it’s best to not read reviews beforehand.

“You can read the reviews afterwards. Trust your own judgement. In any case, you’ll enjoy it more when you don’t know what it’s about,” she laughs.

If you’d like to bring ‘Barbarian Invasion’ to your location, join the crowdfunding campaign for Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor. Also follow its Facebook page for updates.